Harvest Moon: Johnny Bravo style!
by RWT
Summary: Imagine Johnny Bravo of Cartoon Network in the game of HM BTN... What do you get? Read and find out... Ch17 up
1. Chapter 1

**RWT: **Ahh! My beta-reader has gone missing! **GeneralDragon**, where have you gone! Ahh! Who's going to harness my grammatical errors now?

**Lee: **Hmm… Maybe he's on a trip or something…

**RWT: **I hope so… Well while he's gone… **All right as a disclaimer, I don't anything!** **EVEN THE PLOT! **This story has been posted on this site by author **Ryu** who kindly gave me permission to post it after it has been taken down years ago due to the script format. So anyway… Even if my beta-reader is off somewhere right now, please enjoy the story!

It was a normal day. Johnny Bravo, was playing a game of tennis in his backyard.

And when I say tennis it would be where he would have the ball shooter shoot out a ball, and he would try to hit it by throwing tennis rackets at the ball, all the while yelling "pull"! After some time of doing this, he runs out of rackets.

He snapped his fingers. "Aw man! Now I got to find them all again!" He whined as he set out to look for the rackets.

Just as he was about to go search for them, he heard the annoying laughter of his next door neighbor, Carl.

"Oh, hi Johnny. Isn't it a beautiful day?" Carl greeted. "It makes me want to laugh with joy. I think I'll do it again. Hahahaha-"

Johnny grabbed his neighbor by the collar. "What do you want, geek boy? Can't you see that I'm busy?"

Carl brought up a finger. "I HAVE noticed that you were playing tennis a little, shall we say, incorrectly."

Johnny looked around and notices the rackets and balls all over the place. He then turned back to Carl. "What's your point?"

Carl laughed again. "Only that I used to be a champion player of badminton. I could show you a few pointers, old pal of mine." He said with his geeky smile on his face.

Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Did you say badminton?"

Carl's smile disappeared when he had now just realized the error of what he just said. He had completely forgotten that Johnny was an excellent badminton player, and a bad winner to boot. How he was able to play badminton and not tennis was another mystery.

Carl thought quickly. "Uh… I have a shiny new gizmo."

Hearing the words "shiny gizmo", the thoughts of badminton disappeared from Johnny's head as he promptly let go of Carl. "Shiny gizmo...Ooh…"

"Yep. It's at my house. Want to come over and see?" Carl asked with his geeky smile once again on his face.

"And I'll be seen at your house?" Johnny made a quick pose. "No way,"

"Aw, c'mon Johnny. It'll be fun."

Johnny posed again. "There is no force on whatever forces there are that'll make me want to…" He paused to flex again. "…Hang out with you!"

After finishing his sentence, Johnny's mother, Mama Bravo, called out to him from the kitchen. "Johnny! Mama needs you to take out the garbage!"

Johnny then suddenly grabbed Carl. "What're we waiting for! Let's go!"

**-Carl's house-**

So Johnny runs all the way to Carl's house at lightning speed. When they finally reach it, he drops Carl, and runs inside the house. Various breaking of items can be heard. Carl quickly runs inside just in time to stop Johnny from looking at a vase and almost tossing it over his shoulder.

"I can't find your shiny invention anywhere!" He said as he digs through another pile of junk.

"It's in my room, as where most of my inventions are."

Hearing this, Johnny quickly ran upstairs. Carl quickly followed suit.

"Ooh, it IS shiny." Johnny said as he spotted the invention.

Carl panted a bit before walking over to his gizmo. "It's not just any invention. Allow me to introduce you to what I would affectionately dub: "The fan boy delight!"".

Johnny was obviously not listening. "So where's the invention?"

"I'm pointing to it."

Johnny flexed. "Right, what'd I say?"

…

"Anyways, this fine machine will allow you to visit any world that you could possibly desire, even world of fiction. For example, should you want to visit Captain Kirk on his many epic adventures, all you need to do is insert a Star Trek video DVD of your choice, and then enter the portal…"

"Can I visit Baywatch? Ooh, babe-a-licious." Johnny interrupted, dreaming of all the hot babes there.

"Um, yeah, although I don't see why you would want-" Carl didn't finish his sentence since Johnny was trampling him.

"I want to visit Baywatch! I want to see Pamela Anderson!" Johnny cried out as he got off Carl and went through Carl's discs.

"Don't be silly, Johnny. I don't have any Baywatch episodes."

Johnny stopped searching through Carl's many discs and faced his neighbor. "Come again?"

"But I DO have a video game with lots of pretty girls. Have you ever heard of Harvest Moon?"

"No,"

"It's a great game!" Carl started enthusiastically. "You see, you star as this farmer named Jack. In it, you get to choose the name of your farm, your dog, and the main character. Chickens, sheep, and even cows can be named. You must embark on a quest of farming, daily chores, making friends, getting married, and many other responsibilities…"

Of course, Johnny wasn't listening at all. "And you said it has pretty girls in it?" Johnny interrupted.

"Well, yeah, but that's not the-"

Carl doesn't have a chance to finish, as Johnny has just grabbed the Harvest Moon game, and tossed it into the machine. Since Carl had made activation simple, Johnny pushed the big red button, and jumped inside of it.

"Johnny! Wait! I haven't even tested it yet!" Carl cried out too late. He then shrugged. "Well…What harm could he possibly do? I'll just monitor him through the communication device that came with the portal. It's a good thing I used the same chip that was in my dream machine. Isn't science fun?"

So Carl attached the communicator to the machine, and listened in, all the while holding the guidebook to "Harvest Moon: Back to Nature".

**-Mineral Village: The farm-**

We now see Jack talking to the Mayor Thomas about what he has to do to stay in the village. As he was speaking, a loud yell can be heard from the sky. They both looked up, only to see a rather large muscular man falling towards them. Mayor Thomas jumped out of the way just in time, but Jack wasn't so lucky. His body broke Johnny's fall.

"Ow! Where am I? And what is this lumpy thing I'm sitting on?"

"Get off me!" Jack cried out in a muffled voice.

"What? I can't hear you. Speak up!"

"GET OFF ME!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I still can't hear you. Let me get off of you." Johnny apologized as he picked himself up. "Now, what is it you were saying?"

Jack tries to get up himself but falls back down. "OW! I think my leg is broken! How am I going to run the farm now?" He cried out both in pain and dismay.

The mayor shook his head. "Hmm, that's quite a shame. I wonder what we should do now. The red clad man then thought for a while. "Oh! I know! This young man who just fell from the sky can help you. He looks like a strong and intelligent man. I think he'll be a great help to you." He turned to Johnny. "So, what do you say?"

"Sure. Alright. But only if I get to meet pretty girls." Johnny agreed dubiously.

The mayor looked confused at this. "Pretty girls? We have a lot of those in the village, if that's what you're saying."

Johnny looked closely at the Mayor. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be in the same town as those Powerpuff chicks?"

"What? I'm afraid I don't understand." Thomas said in much puzzle.

"You're the Mayor, right?" Johnny asked as he made a random pose.

"Yes,"

Johnny flexed again." And this is Townsville, right?"

"No, this is Mineral village."

"Then where are the Powerpuff girls?" Johnny asked as he posed again.

"The who?"

Jack raised his brows. "I don't know who these Powerpuff people are, but you must be thinking of another town. This place is called Mineral village."

Johnny looked at the mayor. "Why didn't you say so?"

"But I did." Thomas responded.

"No you didn't! I would've remembered."

"Oh, well, sorry about that."

"It's alright. As long as there are pretty chicks around, Johnny's happy." Johnny said as he made another pose.

Jack, all the while, was groaning at Johnny's stupidity.

"Well, it's settled. I'm Mayor Thomas. This is Jack, the owner of this farm. What's your name?" The mayor said as he brought out his hand to shake Johnny's.

"Johnny," He posed before shaking the mayor's hand. "Johnny Bravo."

"Well then, allow me to give you two the grand tour of the village. Just follow me."

"In case you've forgotten, one of my legs isn't working at the moment." Jack popped in annoyance.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry about that. Johnny, could you carry him?"

"But I don't want to!" Johnny objected in a whiny voice.

"Now, now don't you want to help Jack out?"

"Um...No, not really."

"Don't you want to meet the villagers?"

"Um... No, not really."

Jack crossed his arms. "Then I suppose you're not interested seeing any girls, either."

At the sound of "girls", Johnny quickly picked up both Jack and the mayor. "What're we waiting for! Let's go!"

During the tour, Jack manages to stop Johnny from running, and allows the mayor to start the tour.

"This is the blacksmiths shop. Go there whenever you want a tool upgraded, or if you want to make a present or something." The mayor started when they stopped by the blacksmith's shop. Johnny then raised a hand.

"Yes?"

"Did you say, presents?" Johnny asked.

"Um… yes."

Johnny then ran inside. A few seconds later, comes out. "Hey! I don't see any presents!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's because you have to make them yourself." _Idiot!_

The mayor then walked over to the winery. "Moving on, right next to it is the winery. You can buy wine from Manna, the Dukes wife. Just don't eat from the vineyard and everything will be…" He suddenly noticed that Johnny had disappeared. "Johnny? Where did he go?"

Jack pointed to the vineyard.

Johnny was eating the grapes. "Mmm, juicy!" He mumbled as he continued to stuff his mouth with the berries.

"Johnny! Stop eating those!" The mayor cried out in shock.

Johnny halted and looked at the mayor. "But I found them on the vine."

"That might be true, but those belong to somebody else. I'll cover for you this time, but try to be more careful in the future." The mayor said as Johnny walked over to them.

Johnny nodded. "Yes, sir. " He then whispered to Jack, "Haha! He likes me better than you!"

Jack just rolled his eyes on the comment.

After the tour ended, the three were back on the farm. Jack now had a cast on his leg and was leaning on a crutch.

"It's a good thing that the doctor was working today. I'm also glad that it was just a sprung ankle." The mayor said as he pointed to Jack's cast.

Jack looked at Johnny. "Did you really have to play with his tools!"

"He said that **I** was special." Johnny countered.

Jack then chuckled at what the doctor REALLY meant.

"Well, you know where everything is and what to do. I wish you two the best of luck." The mayor said as he waved off.

When the mayor left, Jack looked around at the pile of weeds and lumber pieces that were around the farm.

Jack rolled up his sleeves. "Well, we have a lot of work ahead of us. We might as well get started."

Johnny was playing with the puppy. "Okay, I'll be here if you need me."

The farmer frowned. "I meant that WE have a lot of work ahead of us. I'll start gathering the lumber pieces. You can start pulling the weeds." He then started to pick up some of the wood lying around the field.

Johnny didn't want to work but he couldn't help noticing that there was a weed in front of him. Due to his lack of intellect, he thought that the weed was making fun of him.

Johnny looked at the weed with a frown. "You're talking to me? I said, you're talking to ME? I know you're talking to me, so, are you talking to ME?"

…

"So that's how you want to play it, do you? I'll show YOU a thing or two!" He roared as he yanked out the weed, then throws it out, which magically vanishes.

He notices this. "Cool!" He then pulls out another weed, and watches the same results. "Double cool!"

He made a pose. "I have magical powers!" He said excitedly as he continued to enthusiastically pull out the weeds.

Meanwhile, Jack has just finished bringing all of the lumber into the shed, fed the dog, bought some seeds, got the horse, and all of the other stuff he would normally do on his first day in the game. However, since his ankle was sprung, it took him somewhat longer. He was now returning to the barn.

"I sure hope that Johnny managed to finish with those weeds." He said to himself as he hobbled towards the entrance of his farm.

He couldn't help but feel surprise when he saw the completely cleared fields. "Wow, Johnny, you actually did it. You even managed to till the ground. How did you do it?"

Johnny looked at him with a confused face as he held up a dead gopher. "What are you talking about? I was critter hunting!"

Jack slightly chuckled. "Well, as long as it's done." He then hands Johnny a turnip. "Here, take this to the pond that's by the spring and drop it in there. It'll be an offering to the Harvest Goddess. I'll start planting these seeds."

_That'll keep him from messing up anything. _

**-Pond-**

"I wonder how could throwing vegetables into a pond cause someone good luck."

He made a pose, the turnip on his hand. "Some people can be pretty stupid." He looked at the pond. "I bet it's a wishing well!" He took a penny out of his pocket, and threw it into the water. "I wish to meet a pretty girl. Oops! I forgot about this." He then chucked the turnip in too.

Two seconds later, the Harvest Goddess appears before Johnny in all her splendor.

"Hello, Johnny, I thank you for the gift."

"Wishes really DO come true!" Johnny exclaimed as he grabs the goddess and dips her.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing!" The goddess demanded.

"You came from the pond like the lady of the lake. Allow me to be your, knight in shining armor."

The goddess was furious but she controlled herself. "I'm feeling generous today. Leave now, or I will be forced to punish you!"

"I got a better idea. How about you and me do a whole lot of loving?" Johnny suggested impulsively.

**ZAP!**

"Insolent human! You dare use a lousy pick up line on me?" The goddess roared as she floated back to the pond.

Johnny was totally singed from the sudden lightning bolt that the goddess conjured. "Shocking relationship," But he just shook it off. "But never mind that. How might I prove my worthiness to you?" He asked after making another flex.

"By being a good worshipper,"

"Does that mean you'll go out with me if I do?"

"NO!"

"I'll do it!" Johnny said as he sped back to the farm.

The goddess shook her head. "Why did this village let such an idiot in here? I hope I don't see him again." She then went back to the water.  
**  
-Farm-**

It was evening now, so Johnny just went inside the house.

Jack was cleaning up the dishes. "What took you so long? Not that I'm complaining."

"I just saw a beautiful chick, and she said that if I be a good worshipper to her, she'll go out with me."

Jack slowly put the plate and sponge down. "Johnny, what does this "chick" look like?"

Johnny placed a finger on his chin. "She had pretty green hair, purple eye makeup, and she came out of the water when I threw a penny and a turnip in it."

Jack's eyes bulged in surprise. "You mean, THE Harvest Goddess actually appeared before YOU!"

Johnny nodded. "Yep, and she was pretty." He grinned as he made a pose. "Not as pretty as me, of course, but pretty close."

"I just hope you didn't anger her or anything." Jack said with worry. He then turned around to see Johnny sleeping.

…

"Oh well. I might as well turn in."

**-Next day-**

It was six in the morning. Jack rose out of bed, refreshed from his sleep. He tried to wake Johnny, but to no avail. So he went outside, greeted the police officer who told him to be on the lookout for any suspicious character, filled his watering canteen, went back inside, and then poured the contents on Johnny's face, instantly waking him.

"Aaah! Flood!" He yelped. Johnny jumped out from the sofa. He then saw that it was only Jack. "Hey! What's the big idea waking me up like that!"

"As a farmer, we must wake up every morning to do our chores."

"What's your point?"

Jack shook his head. "Never mind," He then handed the blond some money. "Can you take that to Lilia and pick up that chicken from the poultry farm? I have to wait for Barley to bring the horse to me."

"Alright, but there better not be anymore chores."

"With that great job you did yesterday, all we need to do is forage." Jack replied.

"Alright, but you better be right." Johnny said as he waved off.

_As long as I keep him doing simple chores, there's no way things can go wrong. I mean, what can be so hard about picking up a chicken egg?_

**-Poultry Farm-**

Meanwhile; Johnny arrived at the poultry farm. He went inside, and saw Lilia in the kitchen, and Rick watching the fireplace. Johnny walked over to Rick.

"So, what's on?"

Rick looked up from the fireplace and faced Johnny. "Oh, hi Johnny, I heard about you from the mayor. I hope we can be great friends."

_Oh great! Another Carl!  
_  
"Can I help you?" Lilia asked.

Upon seeing Lilia, Johnny ran over to her. "So, what's a nice young lady like you doing in a farm like this?"

Lilia giggled. "You're quite the charmer, aren't you?"

"That's why they call me Johnny, the chick magnet."

Rick suddenly stood up. "Hey! Stay away from my mother!"

"Beat it, geek face."

"Mom! Make him go away!"

"Oh Rick. You can be such a baby sometimes." Lilia said as she handed Johnny a chicken. "Here's what you wanted. That'll be 1,000 gold."

Johnny takes the chicken and takes out some gold from his pocket. "I don't have any gold, but I DO have this money." He then hands the money to her.

Lilia giggled. "You're such a kidder!"

He made a pose. "Well, I got to go. There's a lot of chick watching to do." He then walked out of the door.

"Wait for me, Johnny!"

Johnny turned around to see Rick running over to him. "What do you want!" He then noticed that Rick's voice seemed slightly different.

"It's me, Carl! I'm using this telepathic link through my machine to communicate with you through Rick. That way, I can help you out wherever you go! YAAYY!" Rick-Carl said happily.

After hearing this, Johnny grabbed him and threw him to the river.

Upon hitting the water, Rick normalizes. "Ah! Help! I can swim but someone help me!" He cried out as the current carries him away.

"Geek,"

Just as soon as he turns around, he notices a young woman looking at him quizzically. She had pink hair, red eyes, and a red skirt with a white top and black vest.

The lady smiled at him. "Hello. I'm Popuri. The mayor has already told us about you and Jack."

Johnny suddenly grabbed her and dipped her. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have such pretty eyes?"

"Really? Most people think they look odd."

"I like them. They're all nice and shiny."

Popuri was feeling uncomfortable with both her position and what Johnny is trying to say. "Um, could you let me go?"

"You promise not hit me and run away?"

Popuri raised a brow in confusion. "Um, sure."

Johnny then let her go. "Good. Anyways, the name's Johnny, Johnny Bravo."

"I know. The mayor already told me that."

"Is your hair naturally pink?" Johnny asked from sheer curiosity.

Popuri didn't hear his question as she looked at the river. "Um, why did you throw my brother in the river?"

"Cause he was being a jerk."

Popuri frowned at this. "My brother is always acting like that! He's always so overprotective and mean!"

Johnny pointed a finger at her. "You talk funny."

Popuri then just looked at him in puzzle.

"So do you want to go out?" He then suddenly shielded his face. "Don't hit me!"

"But I just met you."

"Well when you've met Johnny, you've met the best." Johnny said as he proceeded to pose.

"Well, I'll think about it." Popuri said giving some interest at the thought.

"Okay, but don't take too long. The harvest goddess already said that she'll go out with me if I'm good enough."

Popuri was confused for a moment. She then laughed. "Oh, it's a joke! Good one!" She then walked away.

Johnny eventually leaves and reaches the farm. He puts the chicken in the coop, and read a note that was attached to the door. The note said that Jack had gone to the hot springs and will be back soon.

Johnny made a pose excitedly. "Hot springs? I'm there!"

**-Hot springs-**

He walks to the hot springs, and notices Jack talking to this other woman. She had dirt blonde hair, blue shorts, a white shirt, and a purple vest. He walked over to the two and dips the girl.

"Hi, Want to find out why I was named mister congeniality?"

"Johnny! Put Karen down!" Jack said in alarm.

"Don't worry, Jack." Karen said calmly. "I can handle this." She then grabbed the branch nearby and…

**BONK!**

"Ow," Johnny said as he collapsed to the ground.

Jack looked at the fallen Johnny. "Can't say that you didn't deserve it."

"Jack? Let's finish our talk over by the mountain."

Jack nodded. "Alright," He then turned to Johnny who was up again. "YOU, stay here. Enjoy the springs or something."

So both Karen and Jack leave, leaving Johnny to perform all types of dives inside the hot spring.

**RWT: **Actually I think this will have faster uploads since I have the whole copied file in my folder. Though I need to find a way to make that "he made a pose" less annoying…. Hmmm… Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Lee: **That was quick.

**RWT: -Shrugs-** Well what do you expect? I only have to revise the format and some sentences.

**Lee: **I guess

**RWT: **Disclaimer is in chapter one. Enjoy!

It has been several days since Johnny was in Mineral village. Everyone has been introduced already, and Jack has just harvested turnips and cucumbers, and is very happy about it.

Jack pumped up a fist. "Yes! My first successful harvest! Well, time to start picking." He said as he started the harvest. I wonder how Johnny's doing tending the chickens.

"AAHHH!" Johnny screamed as he suddenly broke out of the chicken house with the chickens clinging and pecking at him. He kept running and screaming in panic until… "Get it off! Get it off! Get it-OW!" He ran to the tree near the barn.

Jack sighed as he walked over to the fallen idiot. "Johnny, you weren't teasing them again, were you?"

"Uh…No?"

Jack shook his head and heaved a tired sigh. "Once again, it looks like I have to do the chores around here."

"Cool. I'll be inside, watching TV."

Before Johnny could move, Jack handed him an axe. "I don't think so. Go chop some wood. I already upgraded it to mystrile, on the count of YOU trying to chase down that stray dog with it."

"But it ate my burger!" Johnny protested.

"Now I'm not saying what you did was a BAD thing, it being a stray dog and all, but try to be more careful in the future."

"Yeah, whatever, I'll be sure watch where I'm going."

Jack looked at him with confusion. "Anyways, I'm headed over to the pond to offer my first five crops to the harvest goddess. I heard that I could get a power berry."

Now Johnny hasn't heard a thing Jack has said except for the words: "harvest goddess". "Wait! I'll come with you!"

"I don't know..." He said with much doubt.

Johnny put his hands to together and said, "Please! I'll be good!"

Jack heaved another tired sigh. "Alright, but try not to anger her."

Johnny grabbed the farmer by the collar. "Alright! Let's go!"

**-Pond-**

So Johnny and Jack went to the pond. Just as Jack was about to drop the turnips, Johnny stopped him.

Johnny took out a penny from his pocket. "Wait! He then dropped it into the pond. "I wish to see that water chick again."

Jack rolled his eyes at Johnny's useless gesture and dropped in the turnips.

In a flash of light, the goddess appeared. She smiled as she looked at the surprised farmer. "I thank you, Jack, for the gift." She then noticed that Johnny was also there. "Oh no, not YOU again. She said in annoyance.

Johnny grinned as he posed. "You're looking mighty pretty today."

The goddess groaned and turned to Jack. "How do you tolerate him?"

"I'm a very patient man." Jack said with a sheepish grin.

"So, you ready to go out?" Johnny asked.

The goddess shot him a glare. "I never said anything about-" The goddess wasn't able to finish her sentence since Johnny suddenly grabbed and dipped her. Jack could only stare at them with shock.

"So, how about you and I get cozy for a while?" Johnny asked with a big grin.

**BZAK!**

"Insolent mortal! You shall be punished for this!" The goddess roared as she thought of Johnny's punishment.

Jack went over to the singed Johnny. "That was really stupid; you know that, don't you?"

Johnny got up and posed as if nothing had happened to him. "Oh yeah… She wants me bad."

The goddess raised her hands in the air as dark clouds started to form in the sky. "From now on, everything you eat will go past its expiration date! You will be at constant risk of salmonella!" She then zapped Johnny with the curse.

Jack raised a finger. "Not to be offensive, but isn't that punishment a little…unusual?"

"It was the only thing besides death and mutation that I could think of. He's obviously not the brightest bulb in the bunch."

"I agree with you on that one."

Johnny went over to the goddess. "So how about the date? You could talk about me…" He paused to flex. "…And I could talk about me."

"Leave now, mortal!" She roared in rage.

Johnny ignored her warning and put his arm around her. "I can see that SOMEBODY hasn't taken their nap yet."

" Johnny! Are you insane!" Jack cried in panic.

Johnny made a pose. "Just insane with love." He answered… "Intelligently…"

The goddess shot her hand up and with her magic; she hurled Johnny to the wall. "And on top of that, all animals will try to kill you!" She then zapped the spell when Johnny got up.

"That one tickled,"

…

The goddess tiredly turned to Jack. "And as for you…" She snapped her fingers and two power berries suddenly appeared in Jack's arms. "You'll need the extra strength." She said simply.

Light suddenly surrounded the goddess. "I bid you farewell for now. Good luck with your farm." She then suddenly shot Johnny a glare. "And good luck with HIM!"

"Don't worry, as long as I have a turnip and a penny, I'll never let you suffer without your dear Johnny."

A flash of lightning suddenly streaked through the sky. "What!" The goddess roared. She then held back her anger and turned to the farmer again. "Jack? Can I speak with you, privately? I need to talk to you about a certain pest."

Jack shrugged. "Alright," He then turned to the blond idiot. "Go and chop wood."

Johnny threw a tantrum. "But I don't want to!"

The goddess pointed a finger at Johnny and shot her finger to the sky. Johnny then suddenly went flying over the hill. "Now as I was saying…"

**-Mountain-**

Meanwhile, Johnny had been shot towards the mountain, where he made a crash landing into Basil, who was with his family at the time.

"Oh yeah, she wants me." Johnny said as the dust cleared.

"Um, excuse me, but can you get off of me?" Basil asked.

Johnny quickly got off Basil. "Oh sorry about that." He then suddenly notices the shy librarian, Mary. "Well hello there, sweetness."

Timid Mary hurriedly hides behind her mom, Anna. "I've heard about him." She started in a small voice. "I heard that he's a womanizing jerk."

Anna nodded in agreement. "Yes, so have I."

"Now, now I'm sure it's all just an exaggeration." Basil said in Johnny's defense.

"Oh yeah? Then why did he try to hit on me the other day?"

_WHAT DID YOU SAY!_

Basil quickly regained his composure. "Uh…Good point."

Johnny went over to Mary with a snake in his hands. "Hey, do you like snakes?" He asked when the snake suddenly bit him at the nose.

"AHHH! Get it off! Get it off!" Johnny screamed as he ran around frantically.

Basil gave a confused look. "That's quite unusual. That's just a common garter snake. They're supposed to be very timid. It's a good thing they're not poisonous." He said with much thought as Johnny crashed into a wall.

Mary walked over to him and yanked the snake off. "There, feel better?"

Johnny quickly got to his feet. "Thanks! You saved my life!"

"But I just-" Mary didn't get to finish her sentence since she suddenly got dipped by Johnny.

"Allow me to repay you with a shower of love." He said as he puckered up.

"Someone, please get him away from me!" Mary cried out.

"Do something, Basil!" Anna said panic.

Basil quickly took out a canteen from his bag and sprays it in Johnny's face.

"AAAH!" He screamed as he dropped Mary. He then ran around in panic as he rubbed his shades. "My eyes! I can't see!"

The trio gave him weird looks until Anna suggested, "Let's get out of here while we can."

Mary and Basil nodded in agreement and they all rushed back to town. Later on, Johnny was able to get the chemicals off. But at that time, nobody was there anymore.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Hmm… They must've left early. Now what was I doing?" He then spotted Jack's axe. "Oh yeah! It's chop time!" He then grabbed it.

"Now, which tree to chop first?"

For a while, Johnny cuts down a few tree stumps, which disappear. Johnny of course, just thinks that he has magical powers, and continues to chop stumps, and a couple of actual trees. Upon searching, he finds this really large and really old looking tree.

He walked up to it. "This tree has probably been here for thousands of years. It has to be a historical landmark or something."

Despite what he had just said, he readied the axe to chop it down. "TIMBERRR!"

So Johnny takes a swing at the tree. Suddenly, it shakes, and then speaks.

"Johnny. I have been here for thousands of years. Please, I beg you. Don't chop me down." It said as it rustled its leaves.

"Cool, it's a talking tree." He said as he proceeded to chop it down.

After cutting it down, he decided to go back to town.

**-Farm-**

When he reaches the farm, he notices Won, who is looking a bit downcast, walk towards him.

"Hey there. What's with the long face?"

Upon noticing Johnny, Won's face brightens up.

"Well, you see, I wanted to sell Jack this one in a lifetime opportunity. For only 500 gold, I was willing to give him the SUGDW apple." The merchant said as he takes the "special apple" out of his bag. "Whoever eats it will have everlasting strength."

"Really? No fooling?" Johnny asked in excitement.

"Uh, no."

"Cool. How much do you want it for?"

Won grinned broadly. "You are quite a remarkable gentleman. Normally, I'd sell it for 500 gold, but for such an astute man as yourself, I'm willing to sell it for the low-low price of 1000 gold."

Johnny shoved his hand through his pocket and handed Won the money. "I'll take it!"

Won then handed Johnny the apple. "It's a pleasure doing business with you." _Sucker!_ "I'll let you know if I have anything else for sale." Won said as he left.

Johnny wolfed down the apple. "Now I'm much stronger!" He made a pose. "This'll be great to show to the chicks."

Suddenly, Jack came out of the house and approached Johnny. "Johnny, did you just buy something from Won?"

Johnny pumped a triumphant fist at him. "Ha! You're too late! I already ate the apple!"

Jack let out a laugh. "You mean you bought the SUGDW apple? Consider yourself conned!"

Johnny crossed his arms. "Laugh now, but watch when I become a chick magnet." He then flexed. "I think I'll pay the goddess a visit."

Jack stopped laughing at those words. "Wait! The goddess said that if I can keep you away from her, she'll make my crops grow faster."

"Oh," Johnny then tried to dash towards the pond but Jack stopped him. 

Jack quickly thought of a lie. "Wait! Popuri came by, and said she wanted to see you."

"Well in that case, what am I waiting for!" He said as he dashed towards the Poultry farm.

Jack heaved a sigh of relief. "Well at least that kept him away from the goddess."

"So, are you done planting the new seeds yet?" Karen asked as she entered the scene.

Jack nodded. Yeah, but let me just check how much lumber Johnny had cut." He then went over to the silo.

"WHOA!"

"What happened?"

"Johnny managed to fill the whole silo with wood!"

"What!" Karen exclaimed as she rushed over to see. Her eyes widen in surprise when she saw that Jack wasn't kidding. "No way! How did he do that!"

"Maybe I misjudged his competence."

Karen's sharp emerald eyes suddenly spotted something strange in he piles of wood. "Maybe not," She said as she pointed at the object of interest." "Look,"

Amongst the lumber was a shiny object. Jack reached over to pick it up. When he brought it to the light, it happened to be a power berry.

Jack scratched his head in puzzle. "A power berry? The only tree that was known to have one of those were..." He then realized what Johnny had done. "OH NO!"

"We'll never have power berries again!" Karen exclaimed when she realized what had happened.

"We better go see the goddess about this."

So they both go to visit the Goddess in a hurry.

**-Poultry Farm-**

Meanwhile, Johnny had reached the Poultry farm. He then entered the house.

"Has anyone seen Popuri? She wanted to see me." Johnny asked with a pose.

Lilia tilted her head. "Really? This is the first I've heard of it."

"Johnny! Stay away from my sister!" Rick roared.

"Not now, Carl."

"Who?"

"You know, the other personality that seems to take over whenever I'm around." Johnny explained.

"Oh, him. Nope, I'm Rick."

"Good. The less I hear of Carl, the better."

"That's not a very nice thing to say about me, Johnny." Rick said in a different tone of voice.

Johnny recognized the voice. "AHH! Carl! Leave me alone!" He screamed.

Lilia raised her brow in puzzlement.

"I heard about what you did to that tree and the harvest goddess. Don't you know the importance of power berries?" Rick-Carl asked.

"No."

Rick-Carl cleared his throat. "Power berries are a vital source to the world of Harvest Moon. When consumed, a power berry can give vast amounts of stamina, which is very much needed in this world. Without a tree to grow them, the goddess has nothing much else to reward her loyal followers with, which brings me to another subject."

Lilia tapped his shoulder and he turned around. "Um, Rick? Johnny left."

"Really? Then I must find him! He must know this news!"

"I don't think so!" Lilia said as she grabbed her "son" by the collar. "You're coming with me!"

The boy suddenly normalizes. "Wait! Mom! Where are you taking me!"

"To church." She answered as she proceeded to drag her son. "Apparently, our lack of attendance has brought strange demons into our home. We must repent so you can be okay!"

So Lilia, while dragging Rick, started to make her way to church when Johnny suddenly found himself in the winery.

**-Winery-**

Johnny turned the knob and entered the winery. "Has anyone seen—" He stopped his sentence when he saw Manna. He then quickly approached her. "Whoa mama!" He exclaimed as he grabs and dips her. "How would you like a night out with Johnny?"

Manna giggled. "That's funny. I'm glad to see that you have a sense of humor. Of course, with someone like the Duke around, humor is something that's pretty much needed around here. I can't remember the last time the Duke laughed. Then again, I guess he DOES laugh on a normal occasion, but I don't like the fact that it's usually at the expense of others. Couldn't he be a little more sensitive towards other people's feelings? Like when Jack came by the other day to buy some wine for Karen. Instead of letting him buy it in peace, he goes on to tease him about his obvious crush on her. I told him to stop doing that, but he just said that it was all in good fun, which in some cases, shouldn't be."

Due to Manna's long amount of talking, Johnny's brain got fried." Uh, where am I?" He said as he let her go.

"Oh, you're at the winery." Manna answered with an apologetic bow. "I'm so sorry for talking so much. You see, I don't get much of a chance to talk because everyone says that they don't get to say anything whenever I start a conversation, which is pretty rude if you ask me. In fact, Jack is probably the only person in this town that doesn't tell me to shut up. I know I should talk less, but I can't help it. Once I start an interesting conversation, I just speak what comes to mind. Isn't that quite odd?"

"Manna! Will you stop boring our customer to death? It's bad for business!" Duke shouted when he entered the room.

"So is drinking your own wares!" His wife shot back.

"But I only drink a little bit of it." Duke countered weakly.

"Oh yeah? What about that time I caught you drinking five bottles of wine? What about that time I had to drag you back home because you decided to pass out in the bar? What about that time we were short on funds because SOMEBODY went a little overboard on his wine consumption? Hmm? What about it?" She demanded.

Duke was dumbfounded by this. "Um… well, that is to say, I'm sorry." He apologized weakly.

"Good, because starting now, you're going to be drinking less."

"What! But that's not fair!"

"Neither is making us scrimp every month!" She then noticed that Johnny was trying to sneak out. "Now look what you've done! We're going to lose another customer!"

"Me!" Duke roared in anger. "You're the one who decided to run your mouth, again!"

"Maybe that wouldn't be a problem if YOU came home more often, and didn't always leave me alone in this house!" She countered.

"I told you! I'm a very busy man!"

"Yeah, busy drinking at the bar all day!"

"I don't drink there ALL the time!"

Manna was now more downcast than angry. "What happened to the man I once married! He used to be so sweet and charming! Now he barely even notices me!"

Duke's face softened. "Now you know that's not true. I notice you... sometimes."

Manna, right there and then, broke into tears. "See? You rarely notice me! I feel so alone! Why can't you see that!"

Duke's face was painted with guilt. "Manna? I'm, sorry. I really am. I was being stupid again. Please forgive me." He begged.

"That's what you say every time we fight! Nothing's changed!" She shouted while crying.

Johnny placed his hands on his head. "I just wanted to know where Popuri was. I didn't ask for a soap opera!"

Duke turned to Johnny. "Sorry that you had to see this." He apologized. "I know where she is, and I'll take you to her." He then turned to his wife. "And Manna? I really am sorry. I'll try to quit drinking. We'll even talk to Pastor Carter about it."

"Right now?"

"Yeah, sure."

Manna smiled a bit. "Thank you…"

Duke grinned. "No, thank you."

Johnny smacked his own face. "This is getting really boring! I'll find her myself." He said as he waved off.

"He's quite an unusual young man." Manna commented.

"Yeah," He then realized something. "He didn't try to hit on you, did he?"

"I think so."

Duke balled a hand into a fist. "Oh that's it! After church, I'm kicking his- "

"Watch your language!"

Duke grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Well, let's go."

Hand in hand, the couple then left for church.

**-Pond-**

Meanwhile, during the coming of evening, Jack and Karen were talking to the harvest goddess about Johnny cutting down the old tree. Of course, this angered the goddess.

"That insolent fool! Just when I didn't think he could get any stupider, he surprises me!" She roared in disbelief.

"Couldn't you just create a new tree?" Karen suggested.

"Yes, but you're going to have to wait a couple of years before it bears any fruit. I COULD make it grow instantly, but I wouldn't want that fool cutting it down again."

"So, until then, we have to live on the already existing berries?" Jack asked with worry.

"Right, but keep it under your hats. We wouldn't want a forest riot."

"I'm very sorry about his behavior. I don't even know where he came from." Jack said in apology.

"It's quite alright. Just try to keep his trouble minimal."

"So, what are you going to do?" Jack asked.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. Until I can find out where he came from, there's really nothing else I can do about it. He's apparently too stupid for your normal damnation, but I'll think of something." The goddess said as she crossed her arms to think.

Karen glanced at her watch. "Is it that late already? Church is almost starting, not that I usually go."

"Same here."

The deity raised a brow. "Well isn't THAT something I didn't want to hear." She said in an irate voice.

"WHOOPS! Sorry about that." Jack and Karen said in unison.

"It's quite alright." She said a bit miffed. "Listen. Just keep Johnny away from here, and I'll make sure you not only find the power berries you need, but I'll greatly increase the good luck around you."

Karen smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem. I can already see that you two will be great soul-" The goddess quickly clamped her mouth. "Oops. Almost let out the future."

"What?"

Karen said nothing as she blushed lightly.

The goddess was suddenly surrounded by light. "Well, off with you now. There seems to be quite a disturbance amongst the citizens."

"Aren't you going to solve it?"

The goddess shook her head. "No, I'm going observe, and let them solve it themselves. I'm a harvest goddess, not a mediator." She answered as she disappeared in the light.

"Disturbance?"

Jack shook his head. "Oh great, it's probably Johnny. Let's go."

So they head to the church, walking there leisurely, of course.

**RWT: **Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

**RWT: **…

**Lee: **Whoa, what's wrong?

**RWT: **Ah… I let someone's hand go…

**Lee: **What?

**RWT:** Nothing, I don't anything. Thanks Ryu, for beta-reading!

Johnny was walking around the village, still looking for Popuri. Upon searching, he found the Inn. He decided to enter it. When he did, he looked around, and then sat on a barstool. That's when the Inn manager, Doug, approached him.

"Hello, and welcome to my inn. What would you like to drink?" He asked.

"Got any root beer?"

"I'll have to check to see if I have any. Wait right here." Doug said as he left for the back room.

While Johnny waited for his drink, he notices Doug's daughter, Ann, waiting tables. He gave no second thought as he rushes over to her and dips her.

"Hey there, pretty mama. How's about we go for, a night on the town" He stopped to flex his arm. "Look how pretty and strong I am."

Ann balled her hand into a fist. "Pig!" She shouted as she socked Johnny. "Don't ever touch me again!" She added as Johnny dropped to the floor.

Johnny got back to his feet. "Wow, you hit as strong as a boy!" He then grinned. "I bet you can't do this." He said as he flexed himself three times. "Hu-Ha-huh! It's okay if you can't do it, being a girl and all."

Ann, irked, grabbed a table and smacked it across the blonde's face. "Are you saying I'm weak!" She hollered.

Johnny was dazed as he answered, "Not anymore."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some cleaning up to do." She said as she left in a huff.

"Talk about tough love." Johnny commented as he picked himself up.

"Don't mind her. She's actually very kind. You just need to be less of a jerk." A voice said out.

Johnny looked around. "Who said that?"

"I did." A man in brown garments answered. "My name's Cliff. It's nice to meet you." He greeted.

"I'm Johnny," Johnny said as he posed. "Johnny Bravo."

"Ann is really something. She let me live here, despite the fact that I'm new around here."

Johnny raised a brow. "You like her or something?"

Cliff nodded absentmindedly. When he noticed what he just did, it was too late.

"Aha!" Johnny said in singsong. "You have a crush on her! You have a crush on her!"

Cliff blushed scarlet. "Please! Don't say that! I don't even know her that long."

"What you need is a lesson of love." Johnny said as he posed. "Johnny style."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I could help you get Ann."

Cliff looked at him with doubt. "I'm not so sure. Not to be rude or anything, but you can't even seem to find yourself someone."

"That's because…" He paused to flex. "Johnny's picky."

Cliff was still not convinced. "I don't really know. Your approaches seem quite… Chauvinistic…"

"Shove-a-what?"

"It means women think you're conceited."

"Con-what?"

"Uh… Never mind."

"Alright then. You help me find that Popuri chick, and I'll help you with that other chick."

Cliff still looked nervous. "Uh… I'm not really sure."

Despite what Cliff said, Johnny grabbed him and went out of the Inn. Later, Doug appears with Johnny's drink, but he then saw that he was no longer there.

He saw Ann cleaning tables. "Ann!" He called out. "Where did Johnny go?"

His daughter walked up to him. "I'm not sure, but I'm glad he's gone!" She then gave a look around. "Where's Cliff?" She asked.

Doug shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they left together."

"Oh no!" She cried out in shock. "He might become a bad influence! Cliffs so innocent, and nice, and sweet, and handsome, and-" She then noticed that her dad was grinning broadly at her. "Uh, I mean…" She said as she blushed crimson. "He could get hurt around him! I have to find him!" She then ran off.

Doug smiled. "They grow up so fast. I'm just glad that she's finally interested in someone." He then thought about what he said. "As long as it isn't Johnny..."

**-Church-**

Meanwhile, Johnny and Cliff entered the church. In there was the pastor, Gotz, Jeff and his wife Sasha, Manna and her husband Duke, Lilia, Rick, and Popuri. They all looked at the two.

Cliff smiled nervously. "Uh… Please don't mind me. He dragged me here."

Pastor Carter smiled at both of them. "Welcome, you two. Please have a seat. My sermons are open to everyone."

Upon spotting the blond idiot, Rick cried out, "Johnny! Why are you here?"

Johnny paid no heed to him as he ran over to Popuri's side. "Hello there. It's good to see you again." He said as he posed happily.

Popuri brought up a hand and waved. "Oh, hello Johnny. It's quite strange how my brother seems to act around you."

"We have to get him away from me! I don't want to look crazy!" Rick cried out in sheer panic.

"What are you talking about?"

Rick pointed a finger at Johnny. "Whenever Johnny's around, this other person seems to possess me! I don't like it!"

Popuri was now getting angry. "Rick! Stop embarrassing me! I've never seen you act so immature!"

"Well he HAS been acting rather strange lately." Lilia said in her son's defense.

"See!"

"But then it's probably just the demons."

The pink haired girl gasped. "Demons?" She then hugged her brother. "I'm so sorry! I didn't understand!"

The Pastor's eyes widened at this. "Demons? Bring him over here."

They obeyed and brought Rick to him. After a few speeches and prayers, they finally let Rick go.

Pastor Carter scratched his head. "That's very strange. I didn't sense any demons present."

"But they aren't demons! It's literally another person!"

"You mean Carl?" Johnny asked as he juggled the hymnals.

"You know about this?" Carter asked.

Johnny set down the books. "Yeah, Carl says he's using a tele-something connection with Rick, and something else. I don't know. It was all gobbledygook to me."

"To be more scientifically accurate, it's actually a telepathic out breach that was once something only possible in my dream machine. But, thanks to the fan boy delight, it can work for any world." Rick-Carl suddenly piped in.

…

…

…

"This is serious!" Carter said in panic. "Church is dismissed! I have to call the head churches about this one." He then left to make a phone call.

"My poor son! My poor, poor son!"

"Your son couldn't be better." Rick-Carl popped in.

Johnny suddenly grabbed him by the collar. "Go away, Carl! You're creeping everyone out!"

"Perhaps, Johnny, but I need to get my message across. You see, the harvest goddess of this world is quite angry with you. I need to find a way to get you out of there." He then stopped to think for a while. "Oh! I've got it! I can create a portal somewhere around there. All you need to do is enter it."

Johnny flexed. "No way."

"But Johnny, you have to. It's the natural order of things."

"But I'm not ready to go!"

"But you must, Johnny. You must go."

Johnny was now really irritated as he marched towards the podium. "Oh yeah? He's crazy! That Carl demon brings doom to this village! Grab him! Save Rick!" He cried out as he waved his arms.

"Don't be silly, Johnny. I'm not a-" He didn't finish as Lilia and Popuri grabbed him.

"Don't worry my dear child. We'll have that demon out of you in no time."

"But I'm not a demon!" Rick-Carl protested as he tried to break free.

"Suuuure, that's what a demon would want us to think!" Popuri said angrily as she shook Rick-Carl. "Get out of my brother!"

Suddenly, Pastor Carter came back. "I've just called the grand church." He said as he rushed towards Rick-Carl. "The head priest has just told me of a prayer that'll surely get that demon out. But, we need everyone in this church to join hands as I recite it."

So everyone circled around Rick, and they all held hands while the pastor recited the prayer. When he finished, a slight frequency was heard.

"Oh no! My communicators are overheating!" Rick-Carl cried out as his connection slowly gets cut off. "Don't worry, Johnny! I'll find a way to save you! After all, I'm your fri-"

The pastor tiredly plopped on a pew. "Whew! We did it!"

"YEAH!" Everyone cheered.

Popuri quickly rushed to her brother. "Rick! Are you okay? Speak to me!" She shouted as she hugged Rick.

"Whoa, I can actually think straight again." Rick said as all traces of Carl left him.

"Thank you, Pastor Carter! You've saved my son!" Lilia said in relief.

After seeing that all was well and the "pest" had left, Johnny went over to Popuri. "Now that Carl is out of your brother, you want to go out?" He asked as he posed.

Popuri shook her head. "Not really, but I WILL be your friend." She said with a smile.

"That's cool… For now."

"Popuri! He's a lunatic!"

"Well that LUNATIC just saved you from demon possession!" Popuri said in Johnny's defense.

Johnny flexed. "Yeah, I'm a hero!"

Just then, Jack and Karen entered the church, looking around for anything unusual.

"Is everyone alright?"

"What happened here?" Karen then noticed her parents. "Uh-oh."

Jeff angrily stood up from his seat. "Karen! Why didn't you come to church today?"

"This was supposed to be a family event!"

"Sorry, mom! Jack and I had some things to talk about."

Jeff crossed his arms. "You two had better not be going out!"

Sasha turned to his husband. "Jeff! There's nothing wrong with it!"

"What?" He said in surprise. "But it's much too soon!"

"No it isn't!"

All the while Jack was just watching the feud in silence. He can't really say anything since it is a family matter, and the topic itself was kind of making him embarrassed as well.

"She's right, dad!" Karen said. "I'm old enough to make my own decisions!"

Jeff was about to counter, but Pastor Carter quickly got up from the pew and walked over to the quarreling family. "So what brings you here?" He asked, stopping the argument.

Karen and Jack heaved a sigh of relief.

_Thank goodness!_

"We need to have a serious talk with Johnny." Jack said with a serious tone.

The brunette nodded her head. "Yeah! The harvest goddess is very angry with him!"

"We can't state the reason, but trust us when we say it's pretty bad."

The pastor tilted his head. "Funny you should say that."

"Why's that?"

"You see, Rick seemed possessed, and we didn't know what kind of demon we were up against." Carter explained.

"But then it knew Johnny, and Pastor Carter was able to get rid of it, all because of Johnny's presence." Popuri happily piped in.

"It apparently wasn't able to hide anymore when he arrived." Carter finished.

…

"So Johnny's...A hero?" Karen asked in utter astonishment.

The pastor nodded. "Well… In a way…."

Jack patted Johnny's back. "That's very surprising of you, Johnny." He commented with much surprise.

"Yeah-yeah, right now I'm hungry." Johnny said, not really paying attention to Jack. "What do you got to eat around here?"

"Well the bar has food. We could go there." Cliff suggested.

"Oh yeah! That reminds me!" Johnny said out suddenly as he turned to the farmer. "I'm going to help Cliff go out with Ann!"

Cliff turned burning red as his head slowly sank in his shirt in total embarrassment.

A mischievous smile played on Karen's lips. "Well I'm not too surprised, what with the way he always acts around her."

Jack gave a doubtful look. "But I really don't think Johnny would be a very good candidate to help Cliff."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Well, I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it."

"But I want to help him!" Johnny whined as he jumped up and down.

Jack crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Well, I suppose we could let him, but we'll have to play editors."

"What do you mean?" Popuri asked.

"Whatever Johnny suggests, we'll have to change it a bit to make sure that Ann becomes charmed, rather than punching Cliff through a wall." Jack explained simply.

"Will you guys stop talking about this?" Cliff asked. He was still red with embarrassment.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Manna gushed. "I remember the first time that I fell in love. Of course, it wasn't like this, but it still brings back memories. Oh! This reminds me." She spun around to the pastor. "Do you think you could help us? We seem to yell at each other a lot, and we want to stop."

"But of course. Marriage counseling is one of my many good skills."

Jack glanced at his watch. "Well it's getting late. Let's go home. Good night everyone." He said as he headed for the door.

But when Jack was about to open the door, Ann bursts through, knocking him on the floor.

"Where is Johnny! Where is Cliff!" She demanded as she looked around and saw the missing pair. She then rushed over to Cliff. "He's a bad influence on your good character! You shouldn't be anywhere near him! Let's go home!" She said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him as she left. Of course, along the way, she noticed what she was doing and blushed. Cliff blushed even more as well…

Karen watched as the door closed behind them. She then smiled her mischievous smile again. "I guess this won't be as difficult as we thought."

"We get to play matchmaker!" Popuri squealed excitedly.

Karen wagged a finger at her. "Correction, **I** get to play matchmaker. I AM her best friend after all."

"That's no fun!" The younger girl pouted.

Johnny made a quick pose. "You mean, **I** get to play matchmaker."

Karen frowned. "What?"

Jack nodded his head. "Actually, that's correct." He then went closer to Karen and whispered, "Just let him think what he wants. He's going to do it anyways. We might as well make him think he's doing something."

Karen gritted her teeth as the farmer moved away. "I suppose you have a point." She then heaved a tired sigh. "Ah, it's getting late. I'm going. Later." She said as she waved off.

"Well Johnny, we better head back. We have to get up early tomorrow." Jack said after watching Karen leave.

Johnny wasn't listening, since he was talking to Popuri. Jack got a bit irritated at this.

"Johnny!"

"What?' Johnny asked as he turned around to Jack.

"I think you better go now." Popuri said.

"Yeah! And be quick about it!" Rick piped in.

**-Farm-**

It was eight in the morning. Jack was feeding the animals. He originally had Johnny do it, but the curse put on him kept making the animals try to kill him. After an hour, Jack looked at his watch.

"Well, Gotz should be open now." He then looked for Johnny, who was pulling out weeds. "Johnny, I have to go to Gotz's place to get an upgrade on the chicken coop. And since I have a lot of lumber, perhaps I could get him to upgrade the house as well. The cooking festival is coming up, and I want to participate."

"Ooh, lots of food." Johnny commented as he threw a weed over his shoulder.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Uh… Yeah. Anyways, I have my hands full, and was wondering if you could convince the harvest sprites to help with the chores. I know that spring is the season of their tea party, but if you're persistent, they'll agree. Just don't get them mad, and don't let them have too much fun. I heard that they could get quite rowdy."

"Uh… okay." Johnny said as he simply left for the elves' house.

The farmer scratched his head. "That's strange. He didn't even complain." He then noticed that Johnny was taking the route that laws leading to the poultry farm. "Figures… Oh well, at least he's doing it." He said as he went out to order the upgrade.

Johnny passed by the poultry farm. He didn't see Popuri, so he continued onwards to the harvest sprites home. Upon reaching there, he looked at the small size of the door and then went inside.

"Hello? Are there any harvest thingies here?"

Chef nodded. "Why yes. Hello, budum."

Timid hid behind Chef after looking at Johnny. "He's pretty large, budum."

"I hope he didn't come for work, budum." Hoggy said as he set the cups on the table.

"Yeah." Aqua added. "We have a tea party to make, budum."

"Why do you guys always say that?" Johnny asked in puzzlement.

Chef shrugged.

"It doesn't matter really, since nothing you say is going to make us miss our tea party, budum." Bold said with resistance.

"Tea party?"

"Yeah, and it'll be really fun!" Playful Nappy popped in. "There will be cake, and tea, and many other things to eat, budum!"

"Really? Can I come?"

"Only if you bring us each a gift that we like." Staid answered as he dropped the tea leaves in a small pot.

Johnny dug through his pockets, magically pulled out seven boxes of flour and hit the jackpot. "What about these? Jack told me to buy these yesterday but I don't really see the point of him having me buy them since he has no kitchen."

Only the harvest goddess knows why the sprites loved flour so much, since after staring at the boxes of flour, each snatched one and hugged it affectionately. They then magically placed it in their pockets.

"Welcome to the party. Please enjoy yourself, budum." Chef said in warm welcome.

**-Farm-  
**  
Jack just returned from the farm. He spotted Karen on the way, and they were talking again.

"So where is Johnny again?"

"Well he was supposed to ask for help from the harvest sprites, but he hasn't returned yet. He should've been back by now." Jack answered as he patted his dog.

"Johnny?" A voice from behind asked.

Both turned around and saw the shipper, Zack.

"Have you seen him?"

"Yeah," The muscular man answered as he handed Jack his money. "I think he's still over at the harvest sprites home. This IS their tea time season, you know."

Jack frowned. "I can't believe he just ditched me like that..."

…

"Well… Then again, I think I can. I may as well believe that he forgot the flour I told him to buy yesterday."

"I'll help you." Karen offered.

Jack smiled broadly. "Thanks, Karen. I really appreciate it."

The girl smiled as well. "This also gives us some time to be alone." She said in a smaller voice.

Jack blushed slightly. "Yeah, I guess it does."

**-Harvest sprites home-  
**  
Meanwhile; Johnny was still eating, drinking, and partying with the harvest sprites.

"This party's great!" Johnny said as he danced with a lampshade on his head.

"I told you, budum!"


	4. Chapter 4

**RWT: **Agh… School in its final days is a killer! …Let the finals come already!

**Lee: **We don't anything but as a small tidbit of a note, this story has over 200 hits. The third chapter had 48 hits alone… Man, I suppose the hits are a consolation for the missing reviews…

**-Beach-**

It is the first week of summer in Mineral village. Everyone is at the beach... Well all the girls were there. It is summer, and as we all know, the traveling seaman, Kai, was also there. Now as we also all know, he isn't really popular with the guys but he is with the females. Rick at the most, despises the guy since he constantly flirts with his sister.

Cliff, Johnny, and Jack were present and eating snow cones. Either they didn't mind Kai as the others have, or it was just for the girls who were sunbathing.

"I don't think I should be here. I should be working or something." Cliff said to Johnny with worry.

Johnny licked his snow cone and said to Kai, "He's shy because he likes Ann."

Cliff's face suddenly went to a bright red. "What! Don't say that so loud!"

Kai smiled an evil grin. "Looks like you need a little matchmaking."

"Karen said that she'd already do it." Jack said as he licked his treat.

"That may be, but girls don't know the inner psyche of a male." He said as he smirked. "They only might end up making him more bashful than he already is."

"I have magical powers."

Kai raised an eyebrow at Johnny. "Er…Anyways, Jack, where did you say you met Johnny?"

"He literally fell from the sky, and onto my back." Jack responded simply.

"Riiiiight…"

"It's true! You think something this pretty drops along very often?" Johnny flexed.

"You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?"

"I'm Johnny." He posed again. "Chick magnet extraordinaire."

"Chick magnet, huh? He looked around the beach and spotted Karen. "Let's see if your bites as big as your bark." The seaman then turned to Jack. "You mind if he tries his moves on her, Jack?"

"It's HIS funeral."

"Well go ahead Johnny. Hit on HER." Kai said as he pointed to the brunette.

"Consider it done." Johnny then rushed right next to Karen. She was sunbathing at the time, and Johnny just moved in front of her.

Karen sat up with annoyance. "Do you mind moving?"

"Only if it's next to you."

"**Go away!"  
**  
Johnny stood right next to her. "How's about we go for a swim?"

Karen stood up from her chair. "Sure! You first!" She said as she somehow lifted and flung him to the sea. She then plopped back to the seat and continued basking.

Kai, Cliff and Jack were laughing real hard as Johnny got out of the water. "Oh yeah, you sure made the moves on her!" Kai said between guffaws.

Johnny was peeved. "Like YOU can do any better!"

The sailor stopped laughing and grinned. "Oh yeah?" He said in response to Johnny's challenge. He then looked around and spotted the nurse- Elli. "See that girl over there?" He asked as he pointed a finger at Elli. "Watch and learn." He said as he walked towards her.

Cliff and Jack stopped laughing as Kai approached Elli.

"Hey there, gorgeous." Kai greeted. "It's nice to see you again."

Elli raised her eyes from her book and looked at Kai. "Why thank you, Kai. It's nice to see you again too."

"Would you like something to drink?" He asked with a gentle smile.

"I'd like that very much, thank you." Elli said with a smile.

Kai nodded. "Okay, I'll be right back." He then went to his stand and grabbed a soda that was sitting on the counter. He then scooted back to Elli and handed it to her. "Here you go."

"Thank you." The nurse said in gratitude as she took a sip.

"So, anything new?"

"No, nothing out of the ordinary, unless you count Johnny, but you already knew about him." Elli answered as she took another sip from the drink.

"Yeah, speaking of which, let me ask you a hypothetical question. If you had the choice of going out with me or Johnny, which one would you pick?"

"That one's easy. You, hands down."

Kai grinned broadly at this. "Thanks, well I better get back to my stand. Enjoy yourself." He said as he started to head back to the guys.

"You too."

Then Kai went back to the stand.

"As you've just seen, I could've had her." Kai said.

"Then why didn't you?' Johnny asked with a raised brow.

Kai's smirk vanished as he shook his head. "She's not my type. Besides, I don't want to hurt her."

"You sure made that look easy." Cliff said.

Kai smirked again. "When you're as confident as I am in communicating with the ladies, it always looks easy."

Johnny struck a pose. "I could've done that!"

"Oh yeah? Care to try again?" Kai challenged.

Johnny made another pose. "I'm ready and waiting!"

"Alright, let's give you an easy one. We need one who will not throw you into any oceans." He said as he scanned the beach. He then spotted Mary and pointed at her. "She should do. Try your moves on her."

"No problemo." Johnny said as he ran in front of the librarian and made a random pose. "Hey there, baby. What brings you here?"

Mary gave a worried expression then ran off.

"Wait! I'm not finished yet! "Johnny cried out as he ran after her. "I haven't even got to the good parts yet!"

"Stay away!' Mary cried as she ran to the pier. She then spotted Gray looking at the water, quickly ran towards him and hid behind him.

Gray looked at the scared girl. "Mary? I was just looking for you. What's wrong?" He asked. He then saw Johnny running towards them. "Oh,"

"Oh, hi." Johnny said as he finally caught up with her. "You mind moving? I want to ask Mary out on a date."

Gray frowned then turned to the librarian. "Is he bothering you Mary?"

"Y-Yes."

Gray's face softened. "Don't worry. Leave it to me." He said gently. The apprentice then walked up to Johnny. "Listen, she doesn't want to go out with you. Respect her wishes, and leave her alone."

"What if she's playing hard to get?"

Gray raised an eyebrow. "You really ARE an idiot, aren't you?"

"Mama says it's because I'm special." Johnny replied as he struck a pose.

Gray slightly chuckled at Johnny's answer. "I can see that. Anyways, leave Mary alone, or else."

"G-Gray?"

Johnny raised a brow. "Or else what?"

Gray put up a fighting stance. "I'll have you know that before I moved here, I used to practice tae-kwondo. Don't make me put it to use."

"Well I'll have you know that **I** also know martial arts." He said as he magically switched to his karate outfit. "Don't make ME use it!"

Gray signaled him to do so. "Go on ahead."

"You're asking for it! HAI-YAA!" Johnny cried out as he leapt to the air and tried to hit Gray with a flying kick. The blacksmith got down and dodged the attack. Johnny then went crashing down into the water.

SPLASH!

Gray looked at the larger man strangely. "Man, I'm sure glad that I didn't learn from his master. Only an idiot will do a flying kick on a place like this." He then went back to Mary. "Let's go. This is a waste of time."

Mary nodded. "O-Okay. I-If you want, we can visit my parent's home and I could show you some of my favorite books.' She offered shyly.

Gray smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

So the pair left while Johnny tried to get himself out of the water. When he finally got himself out, he saw that Mary and Gray were gone, so he went to rejoin the guys, who were laughing hysterically at him.

"Well at least it wasn't the girl who flung you into the water!" Kai said in between laughs and tears.

"Hi guys. What's so funny?" Popuri suddenly asked.

Jack raised a hand. "Oh hi, Popuri."

"How's it going? It's great to see you again." Kai asked with a broad smile.

Popuri's cheeks were tinted with scarlet. "It's great to see you again too, Kai."

"What's with Popuri?" Cliff asked the farmer in soft whisper.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jack responded in the same volume. "She likes him."

Popuri suddenly turned to the two guys. "What are you guys whispering about?"

They shuffled uncomfortably. "Um… Nothing!" They said unison.

Popuri frowned. "Why does everyone always keep secrets from me? It's not fair!"

Kai patted her pink hair. "It's alright. I'm sure it wasn't anything bad."

"I hope so. Anyways, what was so funny?"

Kai gestured to the blond dummy. "Johnny was. He got into a fight with Gray and he lost without even getting hit!"

Jack snickered. "Yeah! Johnny actually fell into the water himself!"

Johnny placed his hands on his waist. He magically switched to his normal outfit just a while ago. "I don't think it's funny!" He fumed. He then noticed Karen, all red with sunburn, walking towards them. He pointed and laughed. "Now THAT'S funny!"

The group looked at where Johnny was pointing then burst into uncontrollable laughter. The brunette was really sunburned from head to toe. It looks like that she was basking for WAY too long.

Of course, even if the others found this amusing and they're laughing their heads off over it, Karen thought otherwise. "And what's so funny about getting sunburned!" She shouted in anger.

None of them were able to answer since they couldn't stop laughing. Ann then approached them, curious of the racket their making. She was about to ask when she suddenly saw her totally sunburned best friend.

Ann broke down to uncontrollable laughter.

Karen did look funny, red and burned all over, but the brunette herself was not laughing at all. She was glaring daggers at the laughing people. "That's it, I'm out of here!" She shouted as she stormed off the beach.

Jack quickly stopped laughing. "Karen! Wait!" He called out as he ran after her. "W-We didn't mean to!"

Karen ignored the farmer as she angrily stomped up the stairs leading to the square.

"Karen!"

Kai watched the pair. He then turned to Cliff. "It's times like these that I'm glad not to be tied down by a relationship."

Unbeknownst to him, Popuri heard what he said and she was not happy about it. "Well if that's how you feel about women, I'm not coming here anymore!" She said angrily as stomped off.

Kai put up a confused face. "What? What did I say! Come back! Tell me! What'd I say!" He cried out as he ran after the fuming girl.

"This is an odd situation if there ever was one." Cliff commented as he watched them go.

Ann nodded her head. "I agree...still, it was pretty funny." 

"Yeah," Cliff said as he glanced at the redhead. He was surprised when he found him looking at her.

…

…

…

The two couldn't seem to say anything more. They just stood there looking at each other. They were both lost in each other eyes…

Johnny looked at the pair and raised a brow. He then noticed Elli and the kids playing in the water. Since he preferred fun than eerie silence-staring, he scooted over to them.

"Swimming is fun!" Stu said happily as he splashed around the water.

"Yeah!" May chirped. "Thanks for taking us!"

Elli, who was sitting on the shore, under an umbrella, smiled at the kids. "I'm glad you had fun, but now it's time to go home." She said as she glanced at her watch.

The kids' smiles turned to frowns. "AWW!"

"But can't we stay for a while longer?"

"We're having too much fun!"

Elli got up and started packing their things. "I know, but I have a lot of work to do."

Johnny ran up to her. "Hey, how are you doing there, gorgeous?" He said as he flexed an arm.

The nurse rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"I noticed that you had a little problem here," He said as he posed. "And was wondering if I could solve it?"

"Well since you asked, Stu and May want to play at the beach for a while longer, but I have a lot of work to do."

"I don't follow."

"I need someone to watch them, but I don't know of anyone who would want to." She explained.

"Are you saying that if I watch the kids and do a good job," He started as her struck a pose. "You'll go out with me?"

"No, nothing like-"

"I'll do it!"

"Yay! We get to stay longer!" The kids cheered.

Elli heaved a tired sigh. "I suppose he could watch you. Just be careful. He's not exactly a full thinker, to put it lightly."

"Look what I can do." Johnny said as he juggled some crabs.

"Cool!" Stu and May squealed as they jumped out of the water to watch the little show. Elli then decided that it may not be such a bad idea and leaves the two with Johnny.

Unfortunately, after she was out of sight, the goddess' curse kicked in.

CHAP!

CHAP!

CHAP!

"AAAAHHH!" Johnny screamed as the crabs clawed him to death. "Get them off! Get them off!" He yelled as he ran around the beach in painful panic.

The kids just watch him run around in panic. They really didn't know how to help, so they just sat there. It wasn't long before Johnny finally got them off by painfully pulling them off

"That was cool!" Stu said as Johnny walked over to them, crab-less.

"How did you resist all that pain?"

"Nerves of steel," He answered as he struck a pose. He then entertained them with a set of random poses.

After a while, May asked, "What should we do next?"

"I know! How about fishing?" Little Stu suggested.

"That's a great idea!"

Stu then realized something. "Yeah...but, I don't know how to fish…" The boy said a bit dejectedly.

The little girl's face fell. "Yeah, me neither."

"How about you, Johnny?"

"Leave everything to me." He then led them back to the water. The big dummy doesn't really know how to fish properly since… He tried to catch fish with his bare hands. The kids followed his example but after several minutes, they had nothing and were exhausted.

"Johnny? Are you sure this is how we're supposed to fish?" Stu asked. "Greg does it with a fishing pole."

"Nonsense, I caught a barracuda." Johnny said as he brought up a large fish. "See?"

The kids paled at the sight of Johnny's catch. "Um, Johnny? T-That's not a barracuda." Stu stuttered in fright.

"I-It's a shark!" May cried as she and Stu ran out of the water and into the fishing house to get Greg.

"Huh? What're you- AAAH!" Johnny cried out as the shark bit him at the behind. "Get it off! Get it off!" He cried as he swam around the water with the shark clinging fast to his booty.

"Whoa, will you look at that." Greg said in surprise as he got out of the house, the kids hiding behind his back. "I haven't seen a shark around here for years. How did he manage to lure one here?"

The kids shrugged as they followed the fisherman to the screaming man.

"I suppose it doesn't matter now." Greg said as he brandished his pole. "We got to save him!"

Greg quickly cast the rod into the ocean. As soon as Johnny went past it, the shark went by it as well. Eventually the shark accidentally got caught by the rod, and Greg, along with the help of May and Stu, pulled the shark to shore. They set it on the beach, and then fished Johnny out, who was now covered with jellyfish and sea cucumbers that were trying to sting him to death.

The old fisherman looked at Johnny and chuckled. "How is this possible? It's like the sea creatures were purposely trying to kill him. Silly, isn't it?"

"Ow, ow, ow…" Johnny said as the sea creatures that clung to him kept stinging and hurting him.

"I think we should take him to the doctor."

"Yeah, he looks like he really needs it."

"I suppose you're right." Greg agreed.

Johnny knew that Elli worked at the clinic. "Will Elli be working there today?"

"I think so." Stu answered.

That was all that Johnny needed to hear before he rushed to the clinic. Stu and May ran to catch up with him. Greg just shook his head, slightly laughing.

"Boy, the things you can see if one lives long enough." He commented as he watched the trio ran off. He then noticed Ann and Cliff walking towards him.

"Will Johnny be alright?"

"That looked really painful." _Though can't say that he didn't deserve it._

Greg nodded his head. "Don't you two worry a thing. He looks like the type that quickly recovers. Now run along. Don't you two have a date or something?" He said with a mischievous grin.

They both blushed. "Huh? No! It's not like that! At least-"Ann quickly stopped her sentence mouth and ran off.

"Um… Well… I'm going!" Cliff said as he also scurried away.

Greg chuckled as he watched them ran in embarrassment. "I love doing that to young potential lovers."

**-Clinic-**

Johnny sat on the table as the doctor pried the sea creatures off him. The kids have already gone home. "Never in my life have I seen jellyfish and sea cucumbers put up such a great struggle." The doctor said as he pried off the last jellyfish from the blonde's skin. He then turned to his assistant. "Why do you think that is?"

"I have no idea." Elli answered. "Jellyfish ARE usually aggressive but sea cucumbers usually aren't. It's quite baffling."

Johnny raised a hand. "Ooh-ooh! I know! Maybe I have the power to speak with animals! Freaky." He said with a pose.

…

"I think I'll just ask Jack." The doctor said as he wrote something on his clipboard.

"So, are you feeling better?" Elli asked.

Johnny grabbed and dipped her. "Never better."

"Quite the lively one, isn't he?" The doctor said with hidden sarcasm and annoyance.

"Yes, and it's quite uncomfortable. Isn't there something you can do about it?" Elli asked with an unhappy expression on her face.

"No, but he seems to be easily distracted. Let me try something." The doctor said as he pulled out a gold coin from his pocket and waved it around.

"Ooh, shiny!" Johnny said as he dropped the nurse.

"Here, it's yours." The doctor said as he threw it out the window. Johnny quickly ran after it.

"Quite an unusual person."

"I'll say."


	5. Chapter 5

**RWT: **Finals are over and it's summer! Ah… So another chapter closes. Well here's the next chapter. I don't own anything.

It was the day before the tomato festival and the mayor was at the farm, talking to Jack.

"Since the tomato festival is tomorrow, I want you and Johnny to deliver them to the town square. You'll get paid for it, of course."

"Sure, no problem." Jack replied as he rolled up his sleeves.

The mayor looked around. "By the way, where's Johnny?"

The farmer placed his hand under his chin. "Hmm… I'm not sure. Last time I saw him, he was headed towards the mountain region. Let's just say he'll be busy for a while."

"Well I hope he comes back soon." The mayor said as he waved off. "Have a nice day."

Jack looked around at his field that was covered by the fresh tomatoes, pineapples and corn. "I'd better get to it." He then turned to the harvest sprites. "All right, let's start." He pointed to the barn. "Timid, Hoggy, go and feed the animals. Aqua, Nappy, please water the crops. Staid, please help me out with the harvest."

The sprites saluted. "Yes, sir! Budum, sir!" They said in chorus.

"Thanks, guys. And guess what? Chef said he'll bake you all cake if you finish early." Jack said with a smile.

"YAAAY!"

**-Mountain-**

Johnny waved a cucumber over the Kappa's lake. "I wonder why Jack wanted me to do this?" He asked as he accidentally dropped the veggie.

"Whoops!"

A weird looking head then poked out of the water. After a few seconds, it went back to the water again.

Johnny raised a brow. "What the?" He said as he took a cucumber from his pocket and threw it to water.

The weird looking head came up closer--closer enough to be grabbed by the idiot, that is.

"You're a weird looking fish." Johnny commented as he brought up the creature to his eye level.

"Please let me go. I'll give you something in return." The green thing pleaded in fear.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Would you be interested in a power berry?" It asked.

"A power what?"

"A power berry. It'll give you strength." The creature explained. "I'll also let you in on a little secret. These berries have increased in value ever since some idiot cut down the tree that produced them. Now they won't grow for a full year."

Johnny laughed. "Hah! What kind of stupid freak would do something like that?"

It put up a thoughtful look. "Well, the goddess described him to have blonde hair, strange city boy clothing and something covering his eyes." It then looked at Johnny. "Wait a minute! YOU'RE that bumbling idiot! Let me go this instant!" It demanded angrily and in shock.

The creature struggled to get free but Johnny had a strong grip on it as he looked at the water pool on its head.

"Ooh… Sink!"

"A wha-AHH!" It screamed as Johnny began to wash his face and hands with the water on its head. Johnny then dropped it after he finished washing and looked at his reflection.

He posed. "Man I'm pretty!"

Without the clean water on its head, the creature became weak. "H-Help… Goddess… I'm… Dehydrating!" It gasped.

Then, as if on cue, the Harvest Goddess appeared before them. She looked around. "What's going on-AH! Kappa! What happened to you?" She gasped as she rushed over to the fallen creature. "Who did this to you?"

"Hey, long time no see." Johnny said when he suddenly grabbed and dipped her. "How about a big wet one for your dear Johnny?"

**POW!**

"Insolent human! Have you learned nothing!" She roared as Johnny fell to the ground.

"So is that a yes?"

…

The angry deity shot a hand at the Kappa. "YOU did this, didn't you!"

"Did what?"

Thunder roared through the sky. "Are you really that mentally incoherent! Don't you see that you practically dehydrated him! Aren't you the least bit considerate!"

Johnny scratched his head. He didn't understand the words the goddess has said. "Uh...come again?"

The goddess cast a spell on the Kappa. "Don't worry. You'll be alright." She said as she levitated the Kappa to the lake. "Just stay submerged for an hour and everything will be alright."

After dropping the Kappa to the water, Johnny grabbed and dipped her again. "I think I got hurt too. Mind playing nurse for me too?"

She snarled. "Words couldn't describe how much I want to kill you! If you so much as even THINK about trying to kiss me-"

Johnny excitedly interrupted her. "Really? You really mean it! You'll let me kiss you?"

"What! I said no such-"

The goddess didn't get to finish her sentence since Johnny gave her a big one on the lips.

The Kappa's eyes bulged in shock. _OH MY! _

"Wow! I'm seeing stars!" Johnny said after the kiss.

The goddess quickly wiped her lips as lightning angrily streaked through the heavens. "Then prepare to see more!" She roared as a boulder generated above Johnny's head.

**BASH!**

"Oooh… Heavy…" Johnny muttered as he collapsed to the floor.

"Foolish human, you are SO lucky that I am a merciful goddess! Otherwise, I would kill you where you lie!" She shouted as she kicked his head. "I wanted my first kiss to be with someone special!" She said with an annoyed sigh. "Hmm...Now how can I punish you?"

Johnny suddenly got up. "Talk about tough love." He said as he turned to the goddess. "Man that was SOME kiss you gave me!"

The goddess looked at him in surprise. "You know, a blow to the head like that should've put you in a coma or at least damage your brain."

He pointed a finger at her. "Strange words are coming out of your mouth."

"So much for the brain damage theory…"

Johnny made a pose. "Does that mean we're going steady?"

Lightning and thunder roared through the blue again. "How about you go steadily over a cliff?" The goddess shouted as she shot her hand to the air, making Johnny fly over the hill and crashing back to Jack's barn.

"Now that THAT'S over with, I need a drink. A kiss from a person with an IQ lower than a monkey's can send chills to one's spine." She said as she disappeared in a flash of light.

**-Farm-**

"Good, we're almost-"

"AAAAHHH!"

**CRASH!**

The farmer and the elves quickly stopped their work and rushed over to the barn. There, they saw a much bruised Johnny.

"Oh yeah. She wants me bad."

Jack shook his head. "Were you bothering the goddess again?"

Johnny jumped to his feet. "This time, SHE came to me! She even gave me a kiss!" He said excitedly as he posed three times. "Hu-ha-huh!"

Jack's jaw dropped and his eyes went big as tomatoes. "WHAT DID HE JUST SAY!"

"His last will and testament…" Staid grimly piped as the other elves froze in shock.

Jack had a face of uneasiness. "Just his, right?"

Staid nodded. "Right, budum."

"That's good to hear." Jack said as he faced Johnny. "Well now that you're here, you can help me take the tomatoes to the town square, since the festival starts tomorrow." He said as he pointed at the barrels of tomatoes outside.

Johnny stood up and shook off the dust. "You mean the one where I can throw tomatoes at people?"

"Tomorrow, yeah."

Johnny struck a pose. "Alright! I'm going to cream everyone and then chicks will dig me!"

"What's his fascination with poultry?" Aqua asked in puzzle.

Jack ignored the elf's question. "Well anyways, let's go."

So Jack and Johnny picked up the barrels and went to the town square as the elves finished their choirs. After they delivered the barrels, they decided to go to the Inn for a break.

**-Inn-**

Jack looked around and saw Won. He then faced Johnny. "Alright Johnny, I'm going to buy some seeds from Won. Please behave."

"Yeah, whatever."

Jack gave him a suspicious look before walking off to talk to Won.

Johnny looked around. But before he could do anything, Rick jumped from his seat. "Oh no! It's Johnny!" He said in panic.

Karen, who was sitting at the other table, rolled her eyes. "Not again…"

Johnny suddenly zipped to her side. "Hey there, pretty mama! Check out these muscles." He said as he flexed his arm.

The brunette stared at him icily.

_She likes me! I can tell by her eyes!_

Johnny grabbed and dipped Karen. "Chicks dig me, so you must dig me. Nine out of ten goddesses can't be wrong."

"But we only have one!" Rick piped in.

"Yeah, what'd I say?"

Karen rolled her eyes. She then spotted her best friend serving the drinks. "Ann!" She called out. "Toss me a bottle!"

"Incoming!" The redhead said as she flung her a bottle. Karen easily caught. "Thanks,"

**BONK!**

"Pig! Stop grabbing me like that!" She roared as Johnny let her go and collapsed to the floor.

Despite the strong blow, Johnny quickly recovered and went back to his feet. "Wow! First the goddess and now Karen!" He said as he posed excitedly. "This is Johnny's lucky day!"

Just then, Jack and Kai walked over to the counter.

Rick rolled his eyes at the sight of the seaman. "Just when it couldn't get any worse…"

Kai grinned wickedly. "Nice to see you two, Ricky."

"Karen's not interested in you, got it!"

"Yeah!" Johnny piped as he flexed an arm. "She's interested in me."

"She's not interested in you either!" He angrily added.

"Of course not. She's interested in Jack." Kai said as he looked at the farmer.

Karen blushed crimson. "A-Am not!"

"Well Jack's interested in you…"

The farmer lowered his cap in embarrassment. "Er…"

The people in the Inn suddenly became quiet as they stared at Jack and Karen.

"Uh…"

"Well… I…"

"I kissed the goddess!"

The people's eyes suddenly widened as their attention turned away from the blushing couple and into the grinning idiot.

"Are you nuts! I'm surprised she didn't kill you!" Ann shrieked.

"You're joking, right?" Kai asked with a doubtful face. _He has to be kidding… Even I can't do that._

"Probably not…" Jack said.

"Which is which again?" Johnny asked.

Ann shook her head. "Nah! It couldn't be."

Kai nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Jack still looked nervous. "At least I HOPE you're right.

"So," Johnny started as he zipped beside Ann. "Want to be partners at the tomato throwing thingy tomorrow?" He asked as he made a pose. "I bet you can't wait to pair up with Johnny!"

"You wish!" Ann roared as she quickly stomped off from him. She then went to Cliff's table and sat beside him. "The nerve of that guy!" She started hotly.

"I'll admit he IS a strange one."

"And an egotistical jerk!" She added. "You better not ever become like him!"

Cliff nodded with a small smile. "I doubt that would even cross my mind. Besides, I like me the way I am." His smile suddenly faded as he looked down at the floor. "That is, if I were better off."

Ann quickly put an arm around him. "Don't say things like that! There's nothing wrong with you!"

Kai, who occupied the table behind them, whispered to Jack, "Without even realizing it, Johnny just brought those two closer together."

Ann turned as red as her hair as she released Cliff. "I heard that! Don't make me hurt you!" She said after whipping around to the smirking Kai.

_I wonder if there are any other chicks to talk to?_ Johnny thought as he scanned the area. He then spotted Manna. _Bingo!_ Johnny then scooted over to her.

"Hey, pretty mama."

Manna turned around and saw Johnny posing. "Oh hello, Johnny. What brings you here? Duke and I usually come here after a hard days work to unwind. We could usually do that at our house, but we prefer the company of others to hear stories and all those sorts of things."

Johnny wasn't listening. "I'm pretty. You're pretty. How's about we go out?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm already married."

Johnny raised a brow. "To who?"

"To me, that's who!" Duke boomed as he marched towards Johnny. "And if you try to hit on my wife again, I'll give you a fistful of pain!" He threatened, shaking his fist at him.

"Your wife?"

…

…

…

"You mean, I've been asking a married woman out on a date!" He shouted in surprise when it dawned on him. "I didn't know, I swear!" He said in panic as he pointed at Rick. "He made me do it!"

"No I didn't!" Rick protested.

"Uh-huh!" Johnny pressed. "And he dared me to do it too! Honest!"

Duke didn't buy it. "Don't take me for a fool! Rick would never do such a thing!"

"That's right!"

"He's too weak and spineless to even try such a thing!"

"That's...Hey!"

"At times, Johnny, you can be worse than Kai." Doug commented as he wiped a plate.

"And that's saying a lot." Kai said as he watched the trio argue.

A little later, the feud was settled and Jack decided to go home for bed. But before he stepped out of the door, he barely got hit by Johnny who was sent flying by Ann. Jack figured he tried hitting on her again…

**-Home: Morning-**

**BRIING!**

Click.

"Who set that alarm-Oh yeah!"

Johnny quickly got put of bed, magically turned from his pajamas to his casual clothes and zoomed to the square.

**-Town square-**

When he arrived, he saw people picking teams for the tomato throwing festival.

_Hmm…_ _I wonder where are the- Ooh! There's one! _He thought when he saw Ann and quickly ran up to her.

"I see you're missing a partner." He said with a pose. "How's about I fill in?"

"Um, you can't. I already have a partner?" Ann lied.

"Really? Who?"

Ann nervously scanned the area. She then spotted Jack entering the square. "Um...Him!" She said as she zipped to farmer and grabbed him by the collar. "Jack and my father are my partners!" She said as she proceeded to drag Jack.

Johnny watched them go. "Oh…. Hmm…" He then preceded for a partner-less girl. He then spotted the nurse. "Ooh! Someone without a partner!" He then quickly ran over to her. "I see you need a partner. Let me join!"

"Ummm...I don't know..." Elli started nervously.

"Please let him join! He's strong, and can throw pretty hard!" Stu begged.

"Please! I'd rather watch Stu anyways. I also want him and you to win." May added.

Elli saw that she was outnumbered. She then sighed. "Alright, Johnny, you can join."

"Cool! Let's get started!"

So there it was; Stu's team, consisting of Johnny, Stu and Elli, against Rick's team, consisting of Rick, Popuri, and Kai.

"You may start...NOW!" The mayor hollered as he rang the bell.

"Take this and this and this!" Johnny shouted as he threw a barrage of tomatoes.

"Ah!" Rick yelped as he quickly got down.

SPLAT!

SPLAT!

"Oh no!"

"Yuck!"

Rick slowly poked his head up and saw his teammates with tomatoes on their faces. _Uh oh…_

"Second Wave! Now!" Stu commanded in military fashion.

"Aye, aye captain!" Johnny said as he sent another barrage at the unfortunate Rick.

"AH-"

SPLAT!

The mayor shot his hand up as Rick tried to clean his glasses. "Ding! Ding! Stu's team is the winner!"

"YAY!"

The mayor watched as the Chicken team left the stage. "Okay, time for the next match!" He said as Ann's team set themselves up.

Ann shot an angry finger at Johnny. "You're going down!"

"Nyah! Nyah! You won't hit me!" Johnny taunted as he made faces.

Doug and Jack didn't say anything but Ann clenched her teeth in burning anger. _He's going WAY down!_

"You may start...NOW!"

At the sound of the bell, tomatoes started to fly. After a while Elli, Stu, Doug and Jack were out. Only Johnny and Ann were left.

"I won't lose this one!"

"I bet you will!" Johnny taunted as he dodged another tomato.

As the battle raged so did Johnny's taunts…

"Weakling!"

"Ha! You miss!"

"Weakling girl!"

"Hu-Ha-Huh!"

And Ann's temper…

"**THAT'S IT HE"S DEAD!"** She yelled as she grabbed a barrelful of tomatoes and hurled it to the posing blonde.

"Haha! You can't hit-"

**CRASH!**

"Ding! Ding! Ann's team is the winner!"

**-Later-**

Ann bowed in apology. "I'm sorry for doing that, but he was getting on my nerves!" Ann said to the farmer.

As Jack considered Ann's fault to be okay, Johnny ran to Elli, grabbed her and dipped her. "I may not have won the tomato war, but I won the war of love."

Elli tried to struggle. "What are you talking about?"

Kai walked over to the dipped nurse. "Don't even try to comprehend it. He's got a really thick skull."

"Well could you make him let me go?" She said quite uncomfortably.

"Sure thing." Kai said as he cleared his throat. "Hey Johnny! Popuri wants to speak with you!"

Johnny quickly dropped Elli. "Really? Where?"

The seaman pointed to the pink haired girl.

"I'm there!"

Johnny rushed over to the girl, but before he could even speak, Rick grabbed him and pulled him behind a barrel.

Johnny runs over to Popuri. However, just before he could say anything, Rick grabs him, and pulls him behind a barrel.

"Hey! What're you doing, geek face?"

"It's me, Carl." Rick-Carl whispered. "I finally got the machine working again."

"Go away, Carl! You're cramping my style!"

"But Johnny! We have to get you back, quick!" He said when he suddenly saw Mary pass by. _Wow! She's beautiful!_ He then shook his head. "Anyways, we need to get you back! Word has it that you've really angered the goddess of this world."

Johnny posed. "No I didn't!" He then stuffed Rick-Carl in a barrel and rolled him out of town.

"That'll teach you, demon Carl!"

"You mean it was back?" Popuri asked as she started to chase the rolling barrel. "Rick! I'll help you! Let's go get mother!"


	6. Chapter 6

Summer was about to end. Everyone knew that it was really about to end since the fireworks display was tonight. Kai had just finished packing. Everyone also knew he leaves as Fall comes. Jack, Johnny and Cliff were watching him.

"Well that's everything. I'm sure going to miss this place." Kai said as he stuffed the last of his things in a blue bag.

"Even with all the jeers you get?" Jack asked.

Kai nodded. "Yeah, but having friends like you guys, plus all of the ladies, makes it all worthwhile."

Johnny stuck a happy pose. "Yeah. We're chick magnets!"

Kai chuckled. "I'm REALLY going to miss you, Johnny. You were always the comic relief of the gang."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"Uh… Yeah." Kai said as he tried to suppress his snickers.

Cliff crossed his arms. "I wonder how Popuri's going to react to all of this."

Kai made a sad face. "I wouldn't worry about that. As long as nobody has reminded her of my departure, I'll be gone before she notices."

"Yeah, but aren't you going to miss her?"

"Of course I will." Kai said sadly. "I'll miss her most of all." He said with a sigh. "…Which is why I can't bear to say goodbye."

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

The seaman shook his head. "Nah, a guy on the road such as me has no right to drag somebody along. Besides, she has a good life over here."

"Kai!"

The guys jumped at the voice. They then whipped around to see an angry and panting Popuri.

She clenched her fists."How dare you get ready to leave without even telling me! Did you think I wouldn't find out!"

Cliff, Jack and Kai turned to Johnny and gave him an accusing look. _What did you just do?_

"What?" The blonde asked dubiously

Popuri stomped her foot on the woody floor. "I'm not stupid, you know! I didn't need anyone to help me remember what happens every year!"

Kai shook his head and snickered a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, I just didn't want you to get upset like you usually do. Not to mention how upset your brother gets."

"Will everyone just please let me choose my own way of life! Take me with you!" She pleaded.

Kai crossed his arms and started to think. _Hmm… It might not hurt… _"Well, I guess we could do that, just as long as you don't mind long traveling."

Popuri's face was painted with happiness as she neck-tackled him.

"Oof!"

"Thank you very much! I've always wanted to see the world!"

Kai gently pried her off and stood up. "And you will, just as long as Rick doesn't find out." He added as he helped the girl up.

"My lips are sealed."

Johnny let out a yawn. "I'm getting bored. Let me see what Ann's cooking." He said as he headed for the door.

Cliff sighed. "I better go after him before Ann beats him senseless." He said as he followed Johnny. 

"THIS… I got to see, one more time, that is." The seaman said excitedly as he hurriedly followed.

"Wait for me!" Popuri said as she also ran after them.

Jack rolled his eyes, shook his head and followed them.

**-Inn: First Floor-**

"There they are!"

Johnny flexed his body as Jack, Cliff, Kai and Popuri took seats. "Hey baby, I can tell we both love the same things; me!" Johnny said quite boastfully as he tried to get Ann's attention.

Ann was doing her best to ignore him, or rather, to bruise him as she cleaned the barstools.

"Hey, I got a serious question for you." Johnny said as he climbed into the barstool that Ann was cleaning. "Can you guess how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Johnny-pop?" He then quickly grabbed and dipped her. "Whatever you prefer." He said, answering his own question.

Ann snapped. "That does it!" She yelled as she broke free and smacked Johnny with a barstool. "That has to be the WORST pickup line you've ever used on me!"

"Really?" He asked as he picked himself up. "I thought it was when I said this…" He grabbed and dipped her again. "Pardon me, hot sexy mama. If you'd please to take a look at my stud-ly bod..." He started as he flexed an arm muscle. "Then I may have the pleasure of you wanting to be my number-one main squeeze."

Ann clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. "You're right."

**POW!**

"THAT'S the worst pickup line you've ever used on me!" She said angrily as Johnny promptly collapsed to the floor. She then faced her dad. "I'm going to wash the dishes!" She roared as she stomped off to the kitchen.

But before she could even touch the knob, Johnny suddenly blocked her way. "You're doing a great job at hiding your love." He said as he made three random poses. "Hu-hah-huh!"

Ann's brow twitched with much frustration. "You know, I could have you arrested for harassment!"

Johnny grinned. "Really? Want to frisk me?"

Ann raised up an angry, balled hand. "Why I ought to-" Her sentence and her fist were then both stopped when Cliff grabbed her hand and pulled her back

"Ann, don't! Please, calm down." Cliff begged as the furious girl tried to struggle free.

"Let me go!"

"Calm down. Beating him up won't do any good. He'll recover in a minute!"

Ann stopped struggling at that and stamped her foot down. "You're right. His stupidity is unbeatable too. I'll really be just wasting my time on him, huh?"

Cliff nodded.

Ann sighed…And then blushed when she found out that Cliff was still holding her. "Uh… Cliff? Y-You can let go of me now…"

Cliff also noticed and turned bright red. "Oh, s-sorry." He said as he let her go.

"Aw man!" Johnny whined. "Why can't **I** get chicks that easily?" He said, referring to Cliff and Ann.

Ann went redder as she muttered, "Cliff, get him away from me before I beat the living daylights out of him!"

"O-Okay!" He then looked around and saw Karen sipping on a drink. He shot a finger at her. "Hey Johnny! Karen is over at the other side of the bar."

**PFFFT!**

"W-What?" Karen sputtered out after she spewed out her drink.

"Really?"

"Sorry, Karen. It was the best thing I could think of at the time…"

The blonde rushed over to the brunette. "Say there, pretty air mama. Didn't you see me in your dreams last night?"

"Go away! I already have a boyfriend!"

…

…

…

After the whole room went quiet, all eyes turned to the person whom she was talking about.

Kai grinned evilly at Karen, who was not doing a good job hiding her deep blush. "So you two WERE going out, weren't you?"

"S-Shut up!"

Kai nudged the farmer with his shoulder. "I knew those silhouettes I see almost every night at the docks from my Inn room window were not just gulls." He lightly slapped Jack's back. "I knew you had it in you." He said quite happily.

Jack was blushing real red. "Er… T-Thanks…" He said, not really knowing what to say.

He then looked at Karen who was rubbing her temples.

_Tsk… I didn't want it to be announced this way…_

The girl then caught his gaze. Jack couldn't help but smiled nervously. "_I guess it was announced sooner than we thought…" _His smile seemed to say.

Karen couldn't help smiling as well…

"So what do you say? Want a big slice of Johnny?" Johnny said as he flexed his muscles. He was too busy flexing to notice the scene that had occurred.

…Her smile then faded.

It was replaced by an angry frown. "No! Weren't you listening! I already have a boyfriend!"

"Well you look like the kind of girl that could use two." Johnny said as he grabbed and dipped her. "So…Is that a yes?"

"Ann, get over here."

**-Beach-**

"This laptop thing is quite interest-"

"AAAAHHH!"

Gray and Mary whipped their heads from the beeping laptop to Johnny, who was riding a vegetable cart and rolling towards them.

Karen and Ann wanted to beat him up, but then thought that it would be better to throw him out instead…

"AAAHH!" Johnny screamed as the cart continued running towards the librarian and the blacksmith apprentice.

Gray grabbed Mary's hand and attempted to run away. But suddenly, a rock was on the cart's way. It was then just mere nanoseconds before…

…Johnny flew from the speeding cart... "AAAAHHH-OOFF!" …And crashed into Gray.

"G-Gray! A-Are you okay?" The librarian asked to her fallen friend.

Before Gray could answer, Johnny picked himself up and dipped Mary. "Yeah, I'm good." He said, answering her question for Gray. He then noticed the laptop and looked at Mary with a grin. "Hey there, pretty mama. Want to download me? I'm user friendly."

Mary looked at him strangely as Gray painfully picked himself up. "Listen, Johnny." He started hotly. "Why don't you find a girl that WON'T run away from you?" He then grabbed Mary from him and set her down. "Come on, Mary. Let's get out of here."

"Wait! Don't walk away! You're headed in the wrong direction!" Johnny cried out to the leaving couple. "My house is THIS way." He said as he pointed to the direction of the farm.

"W-Why would we want to go to your house?" Mary asked.

"We?" Johnny asked with a twitched brow. "You must mean you and me." He said as he posed.

Gary was about to tell him to bolt but rather,"Hey Johnny, you want to REALLY impress the ladies?"

"I'm listening."

"Well my grandpa is going to be shooting off the fireworks tonight." Gray started. "It would really impress everyone if you helped them out."

"Let me get this straight." Johnny said as he crossed his arms. "All I have to do to get chicks to dig me is to make my own fireworks?"

"Uh…That's not exac-"

"I'll do it!"

Gray sighed at his lack of patience and intelligence. "Oh well, I'll talk to gramps about letting you help him. You go ahead and get your fireworks."

"Alright! Catch you later!" Johnny said as he ran off.

They watched him leave. "There, he won't be bothering us for quite a long time." Gray said to Mary.

"Telling him that was rather cunning. But wasn't lying to him about it getting girls to like him wrong?" Mary asked as she turned to him.

"Yeah, but at least it worked..." Gray shuffled uneasily as he continued to watch Johnny go smaller in the distance.

"I suppose…"

…

"Gray?"

"Yeah?" Gray responded as he turned to face the librarian.

Mary's lips curled into a shy smile. "T-Thank you."

The blacksmith smiled too. "You're welcome."

…

…

…

So then, they just stood there. Looking at each other until…

"Isn't that cute? Two little lovebirds!" Zack chuckled as the two suddenly blushed.

**-Harvest Sprite's House-**

Nappy scratched his head. "So you want fireworks, budum? What for?" He asked Johnny, who decided to ask them for fireworks.

"So I can get chicks." Johnny answered with a pose.

Aqua snickered. "This'll be interesting, budum! Well Staid? What do you say?"

The dark blue clad sprite placed a hand under his chin. "Hmm...Okay, budum. He always DID humor us." He turned to Nappy. "You may show him our secret stash now."

Nappy saluted. "Right away, budum! You're going to love these!" The elf said happily as he got down and flipped a secret switch under his bed.

All of the sudden, the little sprite's beds moved and revealed an underground passageway.

"This way, budum!"

**-Harvest Sprite's House: Secret Underground Base-**

"What's with all the computers and wires?"

Johnny looked at the place in amazement. There were several computers, Harvest Sprites and screens. Carl would have killed to be here. Aside from the many computers, there were a lot of strange gizmos as well. Maybe gizmos still unknown to the human world…

"This is our secret base, budum." Staid said as he led Johnny around the room. "We'd normally have to swear you into secrecy, but since everyone thinks you're an idiot, we don't have to worry about our secret leaking out.

It was clear that Johnny was insulted by the elf, but he was too busy watching a show to notice. "I love that show." He said, pointing to a screen.

Nappy looked towards the direction that Johnny was pointing to. One of the harvest sprites, one that we've never seen before, was watching the harvest goddess sunbathe on the hilltop with the help of some reflectors.

He ran over to the monitor and turned it off. "Wally! What do you think you're doing, budum!" He shouted. "What if she were using her senses at the time! Have you ever thought about that!"

The newbie sprite scratched his head. "Er…Sorry, budum. I'll try not to let it happen again." He said as he quickly went back to his table.

"It had better not, budum!" Chef shouted after him. "Or else it's back to janitorial labor for you!" He then turned to Johnny. "Rookies can be quite a pain, budum."

Staid took out a glittering box from a chest and walked over to Johnny. "Here's what you wanted, budum." He said as he handed it to Johnny. "Just light it up, and let it fly. Just don't be near it as it tends to have a high impact. Also if anyone asks where you got it, just say that the goddess gave it to you so you'll go away."

"And don't worry about it getting wet, budum. The box is water proof." Chef piped in.

"And now we bid you adieu, budum." Wally said as he pushed a button on the monitor which teleported him to a random place.

After Johnny disappeared, Chef walked over to Wally. "So where did you send him, budum?"

The rookie sprite grinned evilly. "Did you put that deity blocker chip on the back of her neck, budum?"

"Yesterday, budum!" An unknown sprite said.

Wally turned the monitor back on and continued watching the goddess sunbathe. "This should be very interesting."

"Wally!"

"Lighten up a bit, budum. This is all in good humor."

**-Hilltop-**

"Ah, it is the perfect day to sun-"

"AAAAHHH!"

The goddess lifted her sunglasses from her eyes as she quickly sat up and looked at where the scream was coming from. "What the-!" She cried out as Johnny was beside her.

The clouds darkened as she quickly waved her hand in the air, making her beach chair and reflectors disappear. "You had better have a good reason for disturbing me like this!" She roared as she snapped her fingers, and she was surrounded by a blinding light to change her clothes.

Johnny was still lying on the ground. "Uh… Disturbing you? I just wanted to get to the fireworks thingy."

The light faded and the goddess was back on her normal clothes. "You mean the fireworks festival? You DO know that it starts soon, right?"

Johnny quickly jumped to his feet. "I got to hurry!" He then turned to the goddess. "But first..." He started as he suddenly grabbed and dipped the goddess. "Want to play some baseball? I'll even let you steal second."

The goddess' brow twitched uncontrollably as she lifted a hand in the air. "Sure, how about I hit a homerun instead?"

"Wiggy."

The goddess balled her raised hand into a fist and Johnny suddenly got crunched in a ball shape by her magic. A bat then appeared on her other hand.

**TOK!**

"AAAAHHH!" Johnny screamed as he flew to the beach.

The goddess set the bat down and watched as Johnny flew. "I think I just hit the pigskin over the ballpark...Or something like that." She was then surrounded by the blinding light as she plopped back to her beach chair. "Anyway…" She said as she continued sunbathing.

**-Beach: Coast-**

"He's got one minute before we leave him."

Saibara looked at his watch. "Where is he-"

"AAAAHHH!"

"What was that?" Zack, Gray and Saibara looked up and saw Johnny falling towards their boat…Which he did in a split second later.

But despite the fall, Johnny got up and posed as if it was nothing. "I made it! Johnny's here!"

"About time!" Saibara snapped. "Let's go!"

**-Island-**

The firework show was great. Everything was going great. Towards the end, Johnny remembered about the one he had and went up to Gray.

"I got this for the show." Johnny said as he opened his box of fireworks and showed it to Gray.

"Where did you get it?"

"Um…harvest goddess...or something harvest."

Gray didn't believe him. "Oh." But he gave Johnny a lighted match. "Well, go ahead and light it up. Use this."

Johnny took the lighted match. "Thanks." Johnny said as he lit the fireworks and went over to the stand where he was supposed to let it go. "Now what was it that the little pointy headed guy told me to watch out for?" He asked as he kept hold of the lit fireworks.

He scratched his head. "What was it-WHOAAA!" He screamed when the fireworks he was holding suddenly flew up.

**BADABOOM!**

"Wow!" The people cheered as Johnny's fireworks exploded and decorated the sky with magnificent colors.

"That must be the best explosion we've seen!" Popuri squealed excitedly.

"Yeah, I-"

"AAAAAHHHH!"

**CRASH!**

"What was that?" Ann asked as she and all the girls rushed over to the fallen figure.

"Oooh…" The singed Johnny moaned as he opened his eyes… And the first thing he saw was the girls…Popuri, Karen, Mary, Ann, and Elli in one group, watching in amazement as to how someone could survive such an impact.

Johnny brushed away the balck soot as he got up. "Gray was right!" He said as he posed happily. "Chicks DO dig me!" He then went over to them. "Yo foxy mamas, looks like you need a bedtime story." He said as he made another pose. "How about you ladies come back to my place and I'll read you Bravo and the five babes?"

The girl's faces darkened at this. They surrounded him, Johnny took it a sign of affection but he was WAY wrong.

**SLAP!**

**POW!**

**SLAP!**

**SLAP!**

**SPLOOSH!**

All the other people could just stare in awe as Ann flung him to the ocean.

Despite all that, Johnny made a happy pose under the water. "Oh yeah! They definitely want me!"


	7. Chapter 7

**RWT: **I own nothing.

**Lee: **Look at chapter 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.

"What are you doing?"

Jack looked annoyingly at Johnny who was running away from the dog. "You're supposed to be helping me with the harvest!"

"I'd like to," Johnny started. "But I think your dog doesn't like me for some reason." He said as he stopped and posed. "He must be jealous of my good looks."

**CHOMP!**

"OWWW!"

Jack heaved a sigh as he shook his head. He then looked at Johnny who was screaming while running around with the dog clamped on his behind. He then waited for Johnny to stop and get the dog off of him before walking towards them.

"Honestly, you should really stop bothering the Goddess. Maybe then she'll lift this curse off you." Jack suggested as he picked the dog up.

"The only thing I'm cursed with is the curse of love."

The farmer rolled his eyes. "Well I'll put the dog in the house for a while. Just try to help clean up the field."

"Oh alright, if I must. But I'll do it with style." He said as he made another pose. He then went to work.

**-Later-**

Jack wiped his sweaty brow and looked at his fields. It's a big harvest, but they're almost ready. But before he could continue working, Popuri appeared at the entrance, crying.

Jack quickly ran up to her. "What's wrong?"

"Rick can be so mean sometimes!" She sobbed. "Just when I was about to leave with Kai, he stops me, yells at Kai, and then at me after Kai left!"

Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. I'm sure your brother doesn't know what he's doing. He'll apologize later."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." She sniffed. "Still, he didn't need to do that!"

Thoughts went through Johnny's head. _I wonder what I should have for dinner today... Man, she's making a lot of noise. It's hard to think of new lines to say! Maybe if I cheer her up, I'll be able to go out with her!_

"I'll do it!"

Popuri and Jack both turned and stared at Johnny strangely.

"Maybe this'll cheer you up." He said as he stared flexing. "It always works for me."

Jack just groaned while Popuri continued to look at him oddly. He then decided to get back to work. "Ah-"

"Arf! Arf!"

Jack whipped around and saw his dog running towards them. The pooch somehow got out of the house. Jack tried to catch him but the dog quickly ran past him and…

**CHOMP!**

"AAAAHHH!"

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Johnny screamed as he ran around in circles and as he waved his arms about, in attempt to shake off the canine.

Popuri couldn't help but laugh as Johnny ran around.

**-Little later-**

"Arke! Stop it already!"

The dog growled at Johnny as Jack chained him to his dog house. "Sorry about that." He said to Popuri. "This is the effect of the Goddess' curse."

"Sorry? For what?" Popuri asked with a huge smile on her face. "I haven't laughed that hard since Karen had that sunburn." She then faced Johnny. "Thanks, Johnny. You really cheered me up. I'll go apologize to Rick now."

"Can I come with you?"

"Just as long as you don't grab me like you usually do."

"Can I grab you any other way?"

"No!"

"Can I-" Johnny was cut off when Jack's hand quickly covered his mouth.

"Don't push it, Johnny." Jack whispered to him before letting him go. He then started for the barn. "Johnny can go, but I still have to feed the animals and then ask the harvest sprites for help for tomorrows work. Tell Lilia and Rick that I said hi."

"Okay. Bye and thanks."

**-Poultry Farm-**

Popuri and Johnny walked up to the door and went inside. Inside, Lilia was cooking lunch and Rick was watching the fireplace.

"Popuri, glad you came back." Lilia said as she saw her daughter come in. She then noticed Johnny. "And you brought that nice young, although somewhat stupid man over." She then smiled at Johnny. "Why don't you stay for lunch? It's almost ready."

Rick quickly stood up. "No way! Mom! You can't let Johnny stay for lunch! He's worse than Kai!"

"Shut up, Rick!" Popuri yelled.

Lilia frowned as she turned to her son. "Rick! I'm surprised at you! Is this the way you treat a guest?"

Rick crossed his arms in annoyance. "Fine, but don't blame me if something bad happens!"

Lilia nodded absentmindedly as she resumed her cooking. Popuri then went to help her as Johnny approached Rick.

"Cool, what's on?" Johnny asked as he pointed to the fireplace Rick was staring at some minutes ago.

"What do you mean?"

"You're watching TV, right?"

Rick narrowed his eyes at him. "Johnny, this is the fireplace."

"Then why are you watching it?"

Rick's voice suddenly changed. "Because he has no friends…"

Johnny quickly jumped back. "Carl!" He said as he shot a finger at him. "I command you to get out of that geek!"

"Johnny," Rick-Carl started. "You can't keep sending Rick to the priest. It keeps destroying my wavelengths. Without it, I don't know HOW I'm going to get you out." 

"Well maybe I don't want to get out!"

"Don't be silly, Johnny. Do you know how long you've been gone?"

"Do I care?" Johnny asked as he crossed his arms.

Rick-Carl ignored his statement. "It's been two seasons in Harvest Moon time. That's equivalent to two days in our time."

Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Two days?"

His friend shrugged. "I had homework to do."

The blond ignored it and grabbed him by the collar. "I'll say this once, and I'll say it one more time." He shot a finger at the door. "Leave!"

"What's going on here?" Lilia voice rang out as she entered the room with her daughter.

"It's Carl! He's back!" Johnny replied.

"Yes, it's true. But please don't do anything! I only want to fix this mess that Johnny's caused!"

Lilia ignored him as she grabbed his arm. "This is serious! I think I better take you to the Goddess personally. She then turned to Johnny and Popuri. "Go ahead and enjoy your lunches. We'll be back in a while." She said as she proceeded to drag Rick-Carl out.

**-Town-**

After Lilia dragged Rick out, Johnny and Popuri quickly finished their lunches and went outside for a walk. When they passed the church, Carter noticed the two, and decided to approach them.

"Well, it's nice to know that there's at least one female that doesn't beat up Johnny in sight."

"And it doesn't hurt either. Love hurts." Johnny said as he made a pose.

Popuri turned to Carter and whispered, "I think he might have bumped his head at an early age, so I don't hold it against him."

_Er_…_. That's possible… _The pastor thought. _Though…His skull seems to be too…_

"So I read in the village newsletter that the singing festival begins in two days. Who's participating?" Popuri asked.

The pastor placed a hand on his chin and decided to think about the cause of the blonde's lack of intellect and respect later on. "Well, Ann and Elli are going to play the flute, Mary is going to play the piano, Karen's going to be the lead singer, and I was hoping that Jack would play his ocarina."

"Can I help?" Popuri asked. 

Carter nodded. "Sure! Can you play an instrument?"

"I sure can!"

"Ooh, a band!" Johnny piped excitedly. "Can I sing?"

"Well alright. I'll just tell Karen that the solo has turned into a duet. Quite a nice touch if I do say so myself." Pastor Carter answered, not knowing what he just did. "Anyways, I have to go now. I was heading over to the farm to tell Jack about the festival anyways. I'll see you later." He said as he waved off.

"Bye!" The two said in chorus. Popuri then turned to Johnny. "That was sure nice of him. By the way, I hope you can sing."

"Does air breathe?"

Popuri looked at him strangely.

**-Pond-**

"I thank you for the offering."

The goddess appeared after the light disappeared. She then looked closely at Lilia and Rick-Carl, who after a while of struggling, finally made it to the pond. "Are you alone?" She asked, looking around for any signs of the annoying womanizer.

Lilia nodded. "Last I checked."

The goddess looked around some more. "That's good. For a moment, I thought that bumbling idiot was here." She said with a sigh of relief. "So what can I do for you?"

"Well, as you can see, Rick sort of became possessed by this demon again. This is the fourth time it's returned. I figured that if anyone can make it go away permanently, it could be you." Lilia explained.

The goddess nodded. "Well you came to the right place." She said as she snapped her fingers and Rick-Carl magically floated up. Using her powers, she "examined" him.

After a while, she let him down. "Everything APPEARS to be normal. Speak, mortal."

"Help me!" He cried out with Rick's voice. "I have to bring Johnny back!" It then added with Carl's voice.

_WHAT DID YOU SAY?_

The goddess raised an eyebrow and faced Lilia. "This is more serious than I thought. Please leave. I assure you that Rick will be cured of his possession, but I will need complete privacy."

Lilia bowed low. "I understand." She said before turning to her "possessed" son. "Now you be a good boy for the Goddess. I'll be waiting for you at home." She said before leaving.

The goddess made sure that she was gone before facing Rick-Carl. "Now! Demons, or whatever you really are, speak!"

So Carl told the goddess about everything that has happened. About how Johnny got there, how he was able to communicate through Rick, and about how he knows so much about this world. He put off the fictional part though, as not to disturb the natural balance of things. The goddess listened closely to everything that he said.

"And that pretty much sums it all up."

She glared at him. "So basically it's YOUR fault he's here?"

"Well in a way, but I wanted to visit Star Trek." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Then it is YOUR responsibility to bring him back!"

"I tried to, but Johnny keeps sending me away."

"Well if that's the case…" She said as she started to think. An idea then popped up. "Well if I send you here, can you bring him back then?"

Rick-Carl nodded. "Sure, I just need to reconfigure the transmitter so that I can enter. However, someone on this side of the dimension needs to be watching the monitor in order to bring Johnny and I back. Fortunately, I know just the person. Hold on, I'll be right back." He said as he "disconnected".

"Huh? What just happened?" Rick asked when Carl "left" him.

"Nothing really." She answered. "The important thing is that Carl will no longer be bothering you, and that pest will no longer be here."

"You mean Johnny." He said as he crossed his arms "He can be so annoying, sometimes even worse than Kai!"

"Yes, except for the part about Kai."

"Can I go now?"

The deity shook her head. "No, not yet. We must extract Carl into this dimension. Speaking of which, what's taking him so long?"

"I'm back!" Carl piped up when he "connected". "Sorry for the delay, but I had to run all the way to Suzie's house and bring her here. She already agreed to help. She even got permission to be absent for a week- in my time of course." He said as he stood triumphantly. "You may fire when ready!"

"You got it!" She said as she snapped her fingers and a portal appeared beside Rick-Carl. A second later, Carl steps out, wearing a jumpsuit.

The deity looked at him strangely. "What is that funny getup for?"

"You can never be too prepared, or prepared enough."

At this time, Rick went to normal. He looked at Carl. "So YOU'RE the guy that Johnny was talking about?" He asked which Carl nodded in response. Rick then pumped a fist "Alright! I'm free! I'm free!" He cheered as he ran back home.

The goddess and Carl watched as he left. The deity then faced Carl. "You know what you have to do."

"Hold on a minute. I wanted to examine this place for at least a season. You know, since I'm already here."

The goddess rolled her eyes and sighed tiredly. "If you must. Anything to get rid of Johnny."

"Yay!"

"Please don't do that."

Carl didn't hear her last request. "Well it's off to the Inn to rent out a room. See you later!" He said as he skipped down the trail, singing.

"La-lalala!"

"What a weird human." She said to herself as she watched him go. "I'll just be glad when things go back to normal."

She then disappeared in a flash of light.

**-Later that evening in the Inn-**

Later that evening, while the usual people were in the bar, except for Johnny and Jack, (who just left recently), were doing what they usually do. Carl entered the building, and received strange looks. One for being an out-of-towner, and two for wearing a jumpsuit.

Carl entered the inn, smiling broadly. "Hello everyone! Isn't it a beautiful evening?"

The people looked at him strangely. They had their reasons, since he's a new guy in the village and he's still in the jumpsuit.

Carl took no notice of their stares as he happily walked up to Doug. "I'd like to check out a room." He said as he brought out his wallet. Using one of his gizmos, he somehow turned his dollars to gold. 

"Alright then, that'll be twenty gold a night."

Carl started to fish through the wallet for the desired amount when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, have you seen a man who calls himself Johnny?"

Doug raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps. Do you know him?"

Carl nodded. "Yeah, I'm his friend. I've also come to take him back home."

Ann couldn't help but overhear. "What did you say?" She asked as she ran over to him. "Did you say that you'll get that chauvinist pig out of this village?"

"Um, yes."

Ann threw her arms around him. "Thank you! I can't stand it when he tries to hit on me!"

"Well Johnny can be a bit too forward at times. Unfortunately, I'll be staying here for about a season or two. I want to study the wonders this land has to offer."

Ann sighed in disappointment as she lets go of him. "Well alright. Just keep him away from us. Now let me show you to your room. I'll give you an explanation of all the events that happen in the fall season."

Carl grinned. "Thank you, I'm all ears." He then saw a a husk of corn and pointed to it. "And so is HE!" He added before laughing.

Ann groaned at his lousy joke before leading him to his room.

**-Two days later: Church: Night time-**

Carl sat down on the pew after he entered. He was up on the mountains for the past few days. He had learned a lot but it was only when he saw Johnny with Karen did he remember what he was supposed to do. He tried to get up, but the music suddenly rang in. Ann told him that it was the Music Festival tonight.

So instead of talking to Johnny now and delaying the festivities, he decided to talk to him after the event instead.

When he finally entered the church and found a seat, he saw Johnny on the stage with Karen. Since the music was about to begin, he decided to wait until it was over.

Karen glared at Johnny. "You had better NOT embarrass me!"

"Don't worry." Johnny assured her as he struck a pose. "I sing great." He said as Jack played his ocarina, triggering Karen's cue. Sweet music filled the room when Karen's voice joined the melody.

"Past the ocean's waves… I see the…"

Everything was going smoothly.

Well that is until Johnny opened his mouth…

"Great and sexy me! Lalalalala- LA!"

No words can describe how OFF key Johnny's singing is. He thought he was great, but all the participants stopped making music as he continued his awful singing.

"Boo! Get off the stage!"

"My ears! They bleed!"

There were more boos and jeers, but most of the people just tried to stop it by covering their ears.

**-Harvest Sprite House-**

"LA! Lala! Johnny's the greatest!"

Chef shoved his fingers to his ears. It was times like this that he wished he didn't have better hearing than humans. "It hurts, budum!" He cried out in pain.

"It's so bad, budum!" Nappy cried out as he tried to block the sound by covering his ears with the pillows.

"Someone stop it, budum!" Hoggy cried out as he tried to stop it with a pair of tomatoes.

"AAGH!" Staid screamed as he banged his tiny fist down on a secret switch.

A secret door opened at the press of the button. A small cart with things then rolled out of the door…

**-Church-**

"Make it stop!"

"Lala! I rule!" Johnny continued as the people inside the church covered their ears to stop the noise.

"This ends now, budum!" Aqua cried out as he and Timid flung the doors open. All seven sprites were wearing special earmuffs so that they couldn't hear the lousy singing as they made their way in front with three barrels of tomatoes.

"That racket is loud enough to wake the dead, budum!" Bold cried out as he grabbed a tomato.

"Yeah, budum! Our sensitive ears can no longer take it!" Nappy cried out as he also grabbed a tomato.

"Free rotten tomatoes for everyone!" Chef cried out as he took a handful.

The people really didn't hear what the elf said, but they really needed no invitation when they saw the tomatoes.

"I thought you said you could sing!" Carter, his fingers in his ears, cried out to Johnny.

"I can." Johnny said as he struck a pose. "Listen to this! I'm the hottest!" He sang in a lousy tune.

Popuri noticed the audience getting ready to throw tomatoes. "I think we better get out of here!" She yelled in panic.

"To the confession booth!" Pastor Carter cried out before all the musicians, except for Johnny, ran inside. He then shut the door.

At then, Johnny was done singing. "Thank you!" He said as he made a bow. "You are all my adoring-"

**SPLAT!**

SPLAT!

SPLOOSH!

SPLOOSH!

**-Later-**

Ann grabbed the knob and opened the door. She stuck her head out. "Whoa! What a mess!" She exclaimed as she looked around the messy and tomato splattered stage. She then saw Johnny lying unconscious on the floor. He was all red from the tomatoes.

_Serves you right!_

All of the musicians went out and looked at the mess.

"Oh dear, it looks like we have a huge mess to clean up." Carter said as he walked up to Nappy. "Would it be alright if you helped us clean this place up?"

Nappy nodded. "Sure, no problem, budum." The elves were still wearing the special earmuffs but they can still hear the pastor since it only blocks out lousy singing. 

"Well let's get cleaning, budum. But first," Chef said as he shot a finger at Johnny. "Let's remove him from the premises!"

All seven sprites quickly ran up to Johnny and lifted him over their heads. Then they ran outside and threw Johnny in the trash can and went back to clean.

It took a few minutes, but he was conscious again. He quickly jumped out of the can and magically got rid of all the tomato stains. He then took out a mirror. "Oh yeah! I'm pretty!" He said as he looked at his reflection.

"Hi Johnny!"

Johnny froze at the sound of the voice. He then slowly lowered the mirror and saw…

Carl raised a hand. "It's great to see you again!"

"Oh no!" Johnny cried out. "I must be de-delusio-" He shot a finger at Carl. "You're a mirage!"

"Don't be silly, Johnny. Besides, mirages only happen in the desert."

"Oh no you don't!" Johnny yelled as he grabbed him. "You're not fooling me! Adios mirage!" He then threw Carl back inside the church.

"That takes care of that!" He said as he made a pose. "Now… What was I doing again?" He asked himself, forgetting the disaster of an event he just made.

…

…

…

"I got it!" He said with another random pose. "I was going to see the goddess! She digs me, after all!" He said before going to the pond.

**RWT: **Please review! Hm… There seems to be another bug in this site…


	8. Chapter 8

**RWT: **Man, I wish I could get that other FE6 one-shot out quickly.

**Lee: **It'll be easier if you have no distractions.

**RWT: **I suppose. I don't own anything.

"Karen! Stop putting wine in it! You only need an ounce for flavor!"

The brunette crossed her arms as Chef snatched the bottle from her. "Well EXCUSE me for thinking it was a little bland!"

Chef hopped from his chair and into the counter. "I just don't want us to start over, budum!" He muttered as he put the wine on the shelf.

"What did you say?"

"By the way, what were we making again?" Jack cut in before Chef could answer.

"Glad you asked, budum. We're going to make sweet potato stew, one that'll even beat Doug's dishes. The only difference is that I want to make it extra special." He said as he stole a glance at Karen. "That is if SOMEBODY will stop trying to add her own ingredients!"

"You're pushing it, Chef!"

"Calm down, Karen. He only means well."

Johnny was watching TV in the living room as they were talking. "Besides, the way she cooks, you need all the help you can get!" He called out as he flipped through the channels and saw something he liked. "Ooh, a bikini modeling!"

"So I'm not very good at cooking! What's the big deal?"

"Don't worry budum. With Jack around, you may never need to cook.

Karen and Jack turned red. "W-What's that supposed to mean!"

"Hey, did anyone with a bluebird get in here? The dog walked outside with a feather in its mouth!" Johnny suddenly called out.

Karen's face went redder. "Blue feather?"

Jack's eyes widened as he also went a brighter scarlet. "Uh… I have to go!" He said as he started to hunt for his dog. _ARKE!_

Chef didn't seem frazzled at all by what just had occurred. "Now pay attention. This is where the recipe gets complicated."

**-Library-**

"Uh, Mary? What do you think of this book?"

Mary pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at the book Gray was holding up. "That one's actually a very good book. Go ahead and see for yourself."

"Alright." He said when he noticed the blank seat beside her. "Uh…is it alright if I sit here?"

"S-Sure."

Gray promptly pulled up the chair and sat beside her. While they were reading, the door opened and Carl entered the library.

He notices Mary. "Hello!" He greeted cheerily.

"Hello."

"Hey."

"So tell me. Where might I partake in a book containing the natural flora and fauna of this fine village?" Carl asked with a happy grin. 

"They're upstairs." The librarian answered. "Most of those were written by my father, so you should get all the information you want."

"Thank you. And might I say that you're looking lovely today."

Mary was surprised by the compliment. "Um, thank you?"

Gray suddenly frowned. "Weren't you going to read books?"

"Oh of course! Silly me!" He said with a laugh. "Well I'm off to do some scientific research." He then started for the stairs while singing his favorite tune.

"Weird guy." Gray commented softly as they watched him climb the stairs.

"Maybe, but at least he's a lot better than Johnny."

"I'll agree with you on that one." …_Although Johnny isn't the least bit intimidating._

**-Jack's House-**

"Whew! That's the last time I let Arke inside."

Jack placed the Blue Feather back in his chest for safe keeping. He finally got it back from his dog and Arke is now chained outside as punishment. _That was close! I hope Karen didn't suspect anything. _

"Hi Jack. I see you're back."

The hairs on Jack's back went up as he heard her voice. He had his back to her and decided that he should stay that way for the time being. "Uh… Hey, Karen…"

Jack couldn't see it, but the brunette was apparently blushing. "Was that what I think it was?"

Jack's gaze fell on the floor as he gulped. "Well… yes…. I wasn't ready to show it to you yet, though…" He answered weakly.

"Well when you do… I-I'll be sure to say yes."

Jack's eyes lit up as he whipped around. "R-really! No kidding!" He asked excitedly.

A warm smile painted the girl's lips. "Sure."

Jack slowly took her hands in his. "Karen…"

"Jack…"

"AHEM!"

The couple looked at the elf, who had just ruined the moment. Chef cleared his throat once more. "Before you two get into any mushy stuff, come and taste the stew, budum."

Jack and Karen dropped their hands and laughed nervously. "Uh… Hehe… Right!" They said as they went to the kitchen to check out the stew.

"Hey this isn't so bad." Karen commented after tasting some of the stew.

Jack brought a spoon up to his lips. "Mmm. This might actually win the cooking contest."

"Perhaps, budum." Chef said as he crossed his small arms. "However, it still tastes like it's missing something. I wish I didn't lose that last page in my cookbook!" He said a bit panicky.

Right there and then, Johnny entered the room. "I'm hungry. Where's lunch?"

Jack pointed at the refrigerator. "Help yourself."

Johnny didn't follow his finger. Rather, his eyes zeroed in on the stew. "Oooh, what's that?"

Chef was about to answer, but Johnny quickly answered his own question. "Wait! I know! Stone soup!" He said with a pose.

"No it isn't, budum!"

"He was never the bright-" Jack stopped his sentence short when he suddenly noticed something in the calendar. He then slapped his head. "Oh no! We messed up!"

"What is it?" His bride to-Er… Karen asked as she followed Jack's gaze.

"What happened, budum?"

"Well it's nothing really serious, but today's not the cooking contest." Jack started. "Actually, it's the Harvest Festival today."

Both Karen and Chef frowned while Johnny wolfed down the stew, even if nobody told him he could.

"We'll just have to bring something to dump in the giant pot, then."

"Awww! I was hoping to beat Doug's socks off today, budum." Chef said in a whiny voice.

Jack gave the elf a comforting pat as Karen took some jam from his fridge. "Don't worry. You'll beat him when the time comes."

Chef sighed exasperatedly. "I suppose, budum." He then looked at the clock. "I guess I'd better go myself, budum. There's only twenty minutes left before the festival. I'll see you two later, budum!" The little sprite said before going out the door.

"Bye!" The couple said in chorus.

"Yummy!" Johnny said as he continued to gulp down the stew.

Karen rolled her eyes at his lack of manners as Jack took a couple of carrots from the fridge. The farmer then offered Karen his hand. "C'mon, we're going to be late."

Karen's frown disappeared as she took it, but not entirely as she turned to Johnny. "Johnny, we're going to the Rose Square. If you want to join the festival, you'd better stop wolfing down that stew, grab an ingredient, and go to the square before it starts."

"Yeah, whatever." Johnny replied before Jack and Karen left.

It was roughly another five minute before Johnny emptied the pot. He wiped his mouth with his arm before rushing to the fridge for another thing to eat.

"Aw man! There's nothing good to eat. Just a bunch of vegetables!" He whined when he suddenly spots a big ripe pineapple. "This looks tasty." He said as he grabbed it by the leaves.

He posed. "Now what was I doing again?" He asked himself as he started to think.

…

…

…

…

…

"Oh right! There's going to be a big pot of food at the town square." He said, suddenly remembering what Karen said. He looked at the fruit. "I better bring this as a housewarming gift."

**-Town square-**

"Oh mama! That sure looks good!"

As he stared at the giant pot with a watering mouth, the kids approached him.

"Hi Johnny."

"What did you bring?" May asked.

"A pointy rock." Johnny answered as he brought up a pineapple leaf. Apparently he was still hungry when he was rushing towards the square.

"Uh, Johnny? That's a pineapple leaf." Stu pointed out.

"What happened to the pineapple?"

Johnny looked at the leaf. "Oops."

Out of nowhere, Carl suddenly popped behind his friend. "Don't worry, Johnny. I've brought enough wildlife ingredients for a hundred pots."

"Not now, Carl!" He shouted. "I'm thinking!"

"But Johnny-"

Johnny cut him off by stuffing the leaf to his mouth. "I said, 'quiet'! I'm thinking!"

…

…

…

"I got it!" He said suddenly before dashing off. "Be right back!"

**-Around the corner-**

"Aha! This'll do!"

Johnny grabbed a rock and examined it. "Not as colorful as the rock I ate on the way here, but if I add a few touches…"

**-Little later: Town Square-**

"Look what I brought!"

May tilted her head and stared at Johnny's "masterpiece"- leaves and bark glued unto a rock, making a poor copy of a pineapple. "That's the weirdest looking pineapple I've ever seen."

"But it DOES look cool!" Stu piped.

Carl laughed heartily. "That's a good one, Johnny. That rock really DOES look like a pineapple."

The blonde raised a brow. "Come again?"

"A rock?"

"Yeah." Johnny said as he posed. "To make up for the rock I ate earlier."

Stu and May stared at him…

…

...Then laughed out loud. "That wasn't a rock! That was called a pineapple!" Stu said between giggles.

"Sorry for laughing, but it was so funny!"

"Yeah." Carl joined in. "Still that's a nice looking decorated rock you have there, Johnny."

Johnny frowned. "I know a rock when I see one!" He shot a finger at his 'pineapple'. "And now that I know better, this isn't a rock!"

"If you say so, Johnny." Carl shrugged. "Just don't put it in the stew."

"Everyone may now contribute to the pot luck! Place in your items right now." The mayor suddenly rang out.

Everyone rushed to get in line to put in their contributions. Pretty soon, the air was filled by the aroma of the pot's delicious contents. The Harvest Sprite finished seasoning it before Johnny approached the ladder that he was supposed to climb to get to the pot.

He took a whiff of the smell. "Mmm, tasty smelling." He then looked at his "fruit". "It's too bad I'm not allowed to put this in here."

"Well what are you waiting for, Johnny?" The mayor said from behind. "Go ahead and toss it in there so it can blend in with the other ingredients. After all, that IS a tasty looking pineapple."

Now even if Thomas is the mayor of the town, he was not the sharpest knife in the box, but the fact that this IS Johnny he's talking too…

_If someone as smart as the mayor says it's not a rock, then it must be true!_

"Okay!" He said as he climbed up the wooden ladder and dropped the "pineapple".

The mayor smelled the aroma. "See? It already smells great! Now let's go and partake in a few appetizers." He said as Johnny closed the pot with the lid.

**-Later-**

Everyone was happily eating their share. They congratulated each other how the year's potluck was a success and they were looking forward to next year's. The denizens almost finished emptying their bowls when their stomachs started to churn.

A second later, the citizens were groaning in pain and agony as they lie on the pavement in pain.

"Ugh! The pain!"

"Oww! My stomach! I think dad put too many herbs inside it!"

"Sorry, but I don't think herbs are supposed to do THIS!" Mary's father apologized as he writhed in pain.

The Harvest Sprites looked at the suffering people. "It's a good thing we're immune to such things, budum." Chef said.

"I hear you, budum!"

"Look at all those suffering people, budum." Timid said sympathetically. 

"I think I'm going to hurl later!"

"Was the fish that I put in poisonous or something!"

"I haven't felt this sick since the time I conceived- Ugh! This is quite a long time ago if I recall correctly." Manna groaned as she clutched her aching stomach. "Ugh! I would feel sickness like this every morning. The only difference between now and- Ugh! Then was that I didn't have these annoying stomach pains! At least, not until I was throwing up!"

"Do you mind shutting up!" Anna shouted to her friend. "My stomach's in pain right now!"

"What was in that pot! Glue!"

"Ow! My stomach!"

"Johnny! You didn't put that rock in there, did you?" Carl cried out.

"Uh...No!"

"Good." Carl said. "Agh! Then what else could be causing this!"

"Somehow, I'm not affected by whatever's causing you guys to get sick." Elli said. For some strange reason, she wasn't rolling on the floor in agony like the others. "After all, it wasn't THAT bad."

"Speak for yourself! Urgh!" The kids cried in chorus.

"What are you people talking about? This stuff tastes great! I feel great as well!" The mayor said as he happily ate more of the stew.

"I don't feel so good…"

"Dad! Did you put too much vinegar in it!" Ann cried out to her father.

"I didn't do anything! Honest!"

Won slinked to a dark corner as he painfully clutched his stomach. _Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to put those secret flavor enhancing potions inside the stew._

Karen painfully tried to pick herself up. "Somehow, I think Johnny's responsible for this!" She roared as she glared at the blonde menacingly.

Jack quickly helped her up. "Now Karen, let's not jump to conclusions."

Karen looked at her futu- oops, I mean Jack. "Hey, why aren't YOU feeling as sick as us?"

"The same reason that I'M okay." The doctor called out from behind. "We had to use the bathroom after we were done eating, and that flushed our system out. We also drank plenty of water."

"I told you that you should've drunk water instead of wine." Jack whispered to her.

"Shut up! Still, it's Johnny's fault!" She lashed out.

"Karen…" Jack said as he suddenly lifted Karen bridal style.

"H-Hey!" Karen cried out as she turned red in embarrassment. It was times like this that she was GLAD that the people ARE on the floor, writhing in pain and agony, unable to see her position. Her friends will never let this slip if they did see her.

"I'm taking you to the Inn. The doctor and Elli will be there shortly." Jack said with much concern as he headed to Doug's place.

It was embarrassing, but she had no choice. She tried her best to conceal her blush. "T-Thanks… then…"

The farmer smiled. "No problem."

Johnny was happily eating the stew. "You all must be crazy! I never tasted better food in life since mama's cooking." He said with a pose. "Plus, I look pretty and feel pretty. hoo-ha-huh!" He said as he made three random poses.

"Well, it looks like we have a lot of human patients to take care of, budum."

Aqua sighed. "We better get started, budum."

"I appreciate your help." The doctor said.

"What can I do?" The mayor and Johnny said in chorus.

The sprites looked at them nervously. They didn't want to bring more pain to the people.

"Mayor, you could help bring the patients to the Inn." Elli suggested.

"Okay!"

"What about me?" Johnny asked as he pointed to himself.

"Uh…"

The doctor stepped in. "Johnny, as great as that would be, you're needed more elsewhere.

"Really?" Johnny asked as he posed excitedly. "Where?"

The doctor pointed to the hill. "There in the woods. A… Monkey needs help." 

"Like a talking monkey?"

"Uh… Yes, let's go with that."

"Wiggy." Johnny said before dashing off.

The doctor smirked a bit. "That should keep him busy".

**-Forest-**

"Ooh! Monkeys!"

It really didn't take long for Johnny to find monkeys, even if he had just arrived.

The monkeys all approached Johnny. They looked at him curiously. They weren't sure if he was a human or a bald monkey. After some grunting on Johnny's part, they accepted him as one of their own. They conversed for quite some time, each telling their life story. When they were finished, they looked around for something to do. Finally, they reached the pond where the goddess usually resides.

Johnny quickly rushed to the pond. "Hey guys, look what happens when I do this." He said as he dropped a penny and a quarter. "Watch."

The goddess appeared in a flash of light. "Thank..." She didn't finish her gratitude when she saw who gave the offering. She narrowed her eyes" Oh, it's you. What are you doing here, again!"

"I brought you a present." Johnny said as he showed her the monkeys. "Look! Monkeys!"

_I wonder why the curse isn't affecting the monkeys. They should be trying to kill him by now._

The goddess glared at him. "AWAY WITH YOU!" She boomed.

"Ee! Ee! Ee!"

Unfortunately, the Goddess' booming voice frightened the monkeys. As a result, the monkeys latched themselves all over Johnny and the goddess.

"Johnny! I'll get you for this!" The goddess roared as she tried to pry off the chimps.

"What? They're just hyperactive monkeys."

**RWT: **Feed me! Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**RWT: **Sorry that I took a long time to put this up. I'm pretty this summer and there are a lot of distractions…

**Lee:** Like the TV for example.

**RWT: **Uh… Ahem… I don't own anything.

**-Harvest Sprite's House-**

"Welcome to my birthday party, budum. Make yourselves at home."

"Thank you for inviting us to your birthday party, Hoggy." Jack greeted as he handed the sprite a present.

"No problem, budum." Hoggy said happily as he accepted farmer's gift. "Just make sure to invite us to yours and Karen's."

Jack chuckled. "Okay."

Karen smiled as she placed her present for the little elf on the little table, where all the presents were. "Sure."

"Where's the cake and ice cream?" Johnny blurted out, looking for the treats.

Karen's smiled turned to a frown as she glared at Johnny. "Tell me again WHY you invited him?" She asked Hoggy.

"I believe **I** can answer that one, budum." Chef piped in. "You see, that Carl fellow really creeps us out. He keeps saying he wants to study us, and personally, we like our personal space." He explained to which the other sprites nodded in agreement.

"That's because Carl's a geek." Johnny added as he kept looking for the goodies.

"Anyways, we told him that if he kept Carl out of here, we'd invite him to our birthday parties, budum." Chef added. The sprite then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Plus, it saves us the trouble of finding a party clown."

"Oh." Karen commented, now understanding why the bumbling ninny was invited.

"Speaking of birthdays…" Johnny suddenly said as he grabbed and dipped Karen. "How'd you like to open YOURS early?"

Jack quickly got out of range as…

**POW!**

…Johnny was punched and thrown to the other side of the room.

Karen dusted her hands off. "Well I hope you brought wine to this party of yours."

Nappy pointed at some boxes. "Yeah, we have boxes of them!"

The brunette's eyes lit up. "Then let's get this party started!" She said excitedly as she started to head for the drinks. But before she could even get close to the boxes, Johnny dashed in front of her and blocked her way.

He started to dance. "Want to do the monkey with me?"

An angry vein appeared on Karen's forehead as she raised a fist to sock him. "We-"

She didn't get to sock and or say her sarcastic comment when Jack suddenly caught her hand. "H-Hey!"

"Save it, Karen. It's not worth it." Jack told the fuming girl. Karen scowled but decided to just let it go. Seeing that she won't brutally assault him again, he smiled and let her hand go.

"That's why we invited the only girl in this village that WON'T beat him senseless, budum." Staid said a bit randomly.

Hearing Staid's sentence…

"Who? The goddess?" Johnny asked excitedly as he made a random pose. "I know she digs me." Little Timid then just couldn't help but laugh at his deduction.

Bold laughed as well. "That's a good one, budum. Even I'LL admit to that one." The violet clad sprite then stopped snickering. "But seriously, she should be here any second now-"

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"She's here!" Aqua piped excitedly as he rushed to answer the door. When he opened the door, it was the pink haired girl.

Popuri stepped in and looked at the light blue sprite. "Thank you for inviting me to your birthday party...Um…Aqua?" She really didn't know whose birthday it was

Hoggy narrowed his eyes. "It's Hoggy."

"Sorry!"

Karen smiled at her friend. "Glad you could make it.'

Johnny rushed over to Popuri. "Hey there, Miss!" He started with a pose. "I'm Johnny B! "Want to spend the day with me?"

Popuri giggled in response while Karen groaned.

Hoggy shot up a fist. "Now that everyone's here, let's party, budum!"

"YEAH!"

For the whole day then, the whole bunch partied. They played, drank, danced, talked and did all those things one does in a party. It can't really be said that it went very smoothly, for Carl popped in some hours later and Johnny electrocuted himself in a dare.

But despite all that, they still had fun. And they left for home with happy faces… Well Jack, Karen, Popuri and Carl did when the party came to a close,

"Let's do the monkey with me!" Johnny said the thirty-fifth time as he danced about in the dance floor.

"I'm tired, budum." Timid said as he lay on the floor.

"I want to sleep, budum." Staid added tiredly.

"WOOO!" Johnny shot out as he does various break dancing stunts on the floor.

Chef narrowed his eyes at the happy blonde. "But first he must go, budum."

All seven brothers nodded in response before filing in a single line and charging towards Johnny.

Johnny was still busy dancing. "Man, this party- Whoa!" He exclaimed when the little guys suddenly picked him up.

**-Outside-**

"No more music!"

"WHOA MAMA!" Johnny cried out when the seven elves hurled him out of the house.

**THUMP!**

"Whoa…That was SOME party!" He commented after he crashed to the pavement near the church.

"I see you really enjoyed yourself." An unfamiliar voice said.

"What?" He said, looking around. "Who said that?"

The owner of the voice, walked out of the shadow cast by the church building. "I did." He answered. "You remember me, don't you?"

Johnny didn't say anything as he gawked at him.

The mystery man raised a brow. "Remember? The one who sold you that apple?"

…

The man was getting irritated. "The only Asian in this village?" He said, stressing the clue.

Johnny then shot a finger at him when it finally hit him. "Now I remember! You're Bruce Lee!"

The stranger face faulted. "NO!" He roared, when he quickly got back to his feet. "I'm Won!"

"Right, what'd I say?"

_Such stupidity…_

Won shook his head. "Never mind. I didn't come here to play guessing games. I've come to sell you a rare and valuable item."

"Is it SHINY?"

The merchant shrugged. "Why should I care... Uh… I mean, yeah, sure." He said as he reached out for the item in his bag.

"I'll take it!"

Won looked at him strangely. He hasn't even pulled out anything from his bag yet. "But you haven't even seen it yet."

…

"I'll take it!" Johnny repeated dubiously.  
_  
Hmm…I could sell a shiny coin to this moron and he'd still buy it!_

Won grinned slyly. "Deal! That'll be 10,000 gold." He said as he pulled out an intricately decorated bottle.

Johnny snatched the bottle and tossed him the bag of the requested amount. "Thanks." He said before examining the bottle. "What is it?"

"I found it on the beach." Won answered as he happily pocketed the gold. "It's uh...magical perfume. Use it on the lady of your choice and she will fall madly in love with you."

Johnny's eyes lit up at this. "YES!" Johnny cheered. "Whoo-hoo!'

Unfortunately, it wasn't over. "Come with me back to the inn, and I'll show you some other items you could purchase." Won said.

"Okay, but I don't have anymore money."

"You have a Mineral village debit card, right?" Won asked.

"Only the one I took from Jack." Johnny answered as he took out a golden colored card.

Won grinned the more. "Come. We have much to discuss."

**-Next Morning; Jack's House-**

"Where were you last night?" Jack asked when he saw Johnny with a barrel of assorted junk.

"Buying stuff from that dude in the yellow getup." Johnny answered as he went over to the house.

_Won…_

Jack groaned. With that man's slyness and Johnny's stupidity… "How much did you spend?"

Johnny has a hand on the knob. "Everything." He replied when the debit card suddenly fell from his pocket. "Uh...I didn't do it."

Jack quickly picked up the debit card and glared at Johnny. "Exactly how MUCH of MY money DID you spend?" He asked, trying to contain his anger.

"Well-"

"Not a single bit, thanks to me!"

Both men turned around and saw Ann and Cliff carrying big bags of gold.

"Ann?" Jack said in surprise. "You got it back? How? Won doesn't seem like the person to give up money so easily."

Ann grinned. "Oh, he was VERY reluctant. Fortunately, between my yelling, Cliff being a lot stronger than him to hold him down, and my powerful fists, he was more than happy to give us a refund." She said as he and Cliff unloaded the bags.

Jack smiled. "Thanks, Ann. That really means a lot to me. If there's anything you want in return, just name it."

Ann's grin turned evil. "Well, since you asked, how can I refuse?" She said as she looked at Johnny. "Can I have a few moments alone with him?'

_Uh-oh! I can see where THIS is going._

"Um, sure… I have to go to the market anyways." He said as he quickly scurried off.

Cliff also knew what the redhead meant. "Y-Yeah!" Cliff said as he started to leave. "I also have to go to the market." He then scurried after the farmer.

Ann watched both men go. When they were both out of earshot, she grabbed Johnny by the collar. "You are such an idiot! How stupid can you possibly get!"

"I don't know. How stupid can someone get?"

Ann's eyes went narrow. "That answers MY question…"

"But never mind that." Johnny said as he grabbed and dipped her. "Let's get back to us."

"Let me go now or I will seriously hurt you!"

"Your lips say let go, but your eyes say hold on tight."

Both of Ann's hands were turned to fists. "Try to guess what my digits are saying."

"Um, who?"

**POW!**

"WHOA MAMA!" Johnny cried when Ann's punch sent him flying towards the chicken coop.

**CRASH!**

"BKAK! BKAK! BKAK!" The chickens cried in surprise before pecking him to death- due to the curse.

Johnny quickly got to his feet. "Get them off! Get them off! Get them off!" Johnny cried as he ran around with the chickens still pecking on him.

The chicken didn't have much space that…

**CRASH!**

…He busted through the wall.

He kept screaming as he ran around the field in panic. But as the chickens kept pecking him, the goddess' curse clicked on Arke again.

"ARF! ARF!"

**CHOMP!**

"AAAAHHH!" Johnny screamed. Aside from the pecking chickens, Jack's dog is contributing hurt as well.

Unfortunately for Johnny, it doesn't stop there…

**CRASH!**

Yet again, he busted through another wall. This time, it's the barn's wall. And to add to the misfortune, the goddess' curse also clicked on the sheep and cows.

"MOO!"

"BAA!"

"AHH!"

All the while, Ann just stood and gaped there as the disaster got worse. Well, she was just standing there until Johnny started to run towards her.

"W-Whoa! Hey! Get away from me!" She cried out as she also started to run.

**-Some hours later-**

"So how's work?"

Jack and Zack were both walking towards the farm to get the produce. "Great!" Jack answered. "I just had a huge- WHAT HAPPENED HERE!" He cried out in surprise when he saw his farm.

Well if it is still a farm…

Zack was about to say something but his jaw dropped to the ground instead in shock. The farm… The farm was... All of the animals were tied down and the farm looked like it was hit by a tornado. Johnny and Ann looked like they lost a fight to a herd of wild animals.

Both men rushed over to Ann and Johnny. "What happened?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Johnny cried as he pointed a finger at Ann. "She did it!"

"No I didn't! This was YOUR fault! YOU'RE the one with the curse!"

Zack looked around the messy field and turned to Jack. "Looks like you've got one heck of a mess to clean up."

Jack heaved a tired sigh. "Yeah, I know."

"Jack, I am very, VERY sorry for all of this. Please allow me to help you clean up." Ann said.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

Zack walked over to the shipping bin. "I'd help too, but I have produce to deliver." He said as he took the items out of the bin and into his big basket. "I WILL have someone come over to give you a hand, though."

'Thanks, Zack."

"No problem." Zack said before leaving with the produce.

A peeved Johnny turned to Ann. "Now look what you done! Now we have to help!" He whined.

"It's the least we could do!" She shot back. "Besides, this was YOUR fault!"

"Nuh-uh!" Johnny denied as he shot another finger at her. "You sent me flying to the chicken coop!"

The two continued to argue. They stopped, thankfully for Jack, when Cliff, Carl, Gray, Karen and the mayor arrived.

The mayor looked around. "What a mess. It looks like a twister dropped a visit over here."

"It might as well have been a twister." Karen said as she glared Johnny. "With THAT dunce around."

Johnny didn't hear her since he suddenly noticed Mary and rushed over to her. "Hey there, pretty mama." He said as he posed. "Long time no see. Want to see my muscles?"

"I don't think you should be doing that, Johnny." Carl said as he started to work on the hole on the barn.

Johnny ignored him. He just continued flexing, not knowing that it was just scaring shy Mary.

"Um, Gray?" Mary called out in desperation. "He's really starting to bother me." She said pointing a nervous finger at Johnny.

Gray was fixing the hole in the coop. He stopped when he heard Mary's cry and rushed over to them. "Look, Johnny. You have a big mess to clean up." He said as he placed Mary behind him. "Why don't you concentrate on THAT agenda first?"

"So you're saying that if I get this place cleaned, she'll go out with me?"

Gray couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Not that you're going to listen, but-"

Johnny didn't let him finish. "I'll do it!" Johnny said as he started to clean up with much enthusiasm.

Gray tiredly shrugged his shoulders. "I give up on figuring him out." He said as he turned to Carl. "How do you tolerate him?" He called out to Carl.

Carl grinned as he hammered some boards. "We're best friends."

"I highly doubt that…"

"But we are!" He said as he turned to Johnny, who was quickly finishing his task of cleaning the fields. "Hey Johnny! We're best friends, right?"

"Not in your life, Carl!"

Carl laughed. "Good one, Johnny!"

Gray looked at Carl strangely. "Uh… yeah... I'll leave it at that."

**-Three Days Later: Rose Square-**

The Square was filled with people celebrating Chef's birthday party. Many people are there and just waiting for all of the food to be finished cooking. Now even if it was Chef's birthday, the elf insisted that he cook the food himself. He's almost finished with the food and the people are just talking with each other to pass the time.

Carl was talking to Aqua and Manna. "And that's the story on how Johnny, Suzie and I first became friends."

Johnny stopped stuffing himself with party food… Even if he wasn't supposed to eat until everything was finished. "None of that is true!" Johnny cried out.

Aqua, who was sitting on Manna's shoulder, turned to him. "Still, it was better than YOUR version of how you first met them, budum. I didn't believe a word of it, especially the part about those dinosaurs."

Carl's brow furrowed as he turned to Johnny. "Johnny! Dinosaurs and humans didn't live in the same time frame. I just made that part up when I told you that story long ago."

Johnny raised a brow. "So then that dog you brought over WASN'T leaving fossilized droppings?" He asked somewhat annoyed as he walked over to him.

Carl nodded and laughed. "Nope. It WAS kind of humorous the way you were collecting them, all the while thinking that they were someday going to increase in value. It was all in good humor though. Right, Johnny?"

"Yeah, it's all in good humor." Johnny said as he took out a barrel. "And so is THIS!" He roared as he tried to grab and dump Carl into the barrel.

"J-Johnny!'' Carl cried as he dodged his hands and started running.

Both Manna and Aqua watched as Johnny tried to catch Carl. Then after a minute, Manna launched into her own story. "…And then I told Duke that he forgets my birthday every year, and he says that he doesn't, even though it's an obvious lie. Then I said that Johnny has a better chance at remembering something important than he does and then he starts yelling at me. So I start yelling at him back. Pretty soon, our voices become so loud that the neighbors can hear it. After so much yelling and crying and yelling and crying, we finally resolve our differences. Then we kiss, make up, kiss, make up, kiss, make out, kiss..."

The bored elf's ears perked up. "What did you just say?"

"Huh? ...Oops!" Manna said as she clamped her mouth." She then giggled. "Silly me. That kind of detail isn't meant for young ears such as yours."

"But I'm twice as old as Saibara, budum! I just don't look it."

Manna looked at him with surprise. "Really? You look like a child. Then again, I guess that would be a compliment. I wish I was that young. Of course I wouldn't wish I was THAT young, but very young looking. Not that I already don't look young, but you know what I mean. Getting back to the subject..."

Aqua's little shoulders drooped. _When_ _will Chef be done cooking?_

Well after a while, Chef came out with a giant birthday cake, finally saving his brother from Manna's stories. Everyone sang happy birthday and then ate cake. Eventually the party was over, and everyone went home.

**-Next Day: Farm-**

For some strange twist of fate, Karen was born a day after Chef… So then, Jack and the others were preparing a surprise for her. Even if they were very groggy, Ann and Chef busied themselves into cooking the food. On the other hand, Jack, Cliff, Rick and the other sprites were busy decorating and fixing the place up.

Ann was happily mixing the batter for the cake. "Karen is going to love this surprise birthday party. I can't wait to see the expression on her face when she sees this!" She said excitedly. _This is such a great day! No Johnny, a party, and Cliff by my side!  
_  
Rick was busy fixing the tables. "I know that Karen is going to love this, but did you have to send Johnny to distract her? She's really going to be upset, especially if Johnny tries to hit on her again!" He told Carl who was helping him.

"Don't worry. I've already had that taken care of." He told him with a reassuring grin. "You see, I sent Popuri to distract HIM from hitting on Karen, so it all pans out in the end."

"Oh."

…

"WHAT!" Rick cried out as he grabbed Carl's collar. "You sent my sister with him! How could you!"

"I wouldn't worry if I were you. Besides, what's the worst that could possibly happen?" He said with laugh, not minding that his feet were no longer on the ground. "Johnny takes them to the goddess? You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning."

**-Pond-**

"So why did we come here?"

Karen turned to Popuri. "Well ever since I was a little girl, I've always dreamt of seeing the harvest goddess with my own eyes. Even though I've seen her once with Jack, I want to see her on my own terms." Karen answered.

Popuri pointed at Johnny who was walking in front of them. "So why did you have Johnny take us here?"

Johnny stopped and posed randomly three times. "Because I'm special."

Karen nodded in agreement. "Exactly. So if WE'RE with him, she'll HAVE to show up. That is… just as long as she doesn't go into hiding."

"So how did you get Johnny to stop hitting on you, at least for the time being?" Popuri asked.

"She said that the goddess wants to see me." He replied as he made a pose. "And who can blame her?" He added as he threw a coin in the water and a turnip.

"You know, that coin really isn't necessary."

Within seconds, the goddess appeared before them in a flash of light.

"Well hello everyone." She greeted happily. She then saw Johnny and she rolled her eyes. "Hello, Johnny."

Karen's eyes lit up. "The goddess! I'm so glad to see you! Ever since I was a child, I tried to get you to show yourself to me, but you never did! Now you're here, and my dream has been fulfilled!"

"Yes, I suppose it is an honor to see me, even though I've shown myself to you when Jack was here." She replied before looking at Johnny. "Some less deserving than others..." She then turned to Popuri. "Ah, Popuri. What is it that you came for?"

"Well it's supposed to be a secret, but I'll tell you anyways." She said as she got the goddess to lean down and whisper it to her. "Now don't tell Karen." She said after telling the goddess the story.

"Don't tell me what?"

"Sorry, but my lips are sealed."

Before anybody could say anything else, Johnny grabbed and dipped the goddess. "It must be great to be you looking at me, looking at me."

Karen gawked at them. "Is he crazy!"

"He WAS telling the truth!"

The goddess furiously snapped her fingers, throwing Johnny to the water. "What truth!"

"He said that he kissed you."

"And that you liked him." Karen added. "Although… I don't think that part's true."

The clouds started to darken. "I see." She said dangerously as she turned to the blonde. "Johnny! Get up!"

Johnny quickly got up. "You called?"

"Stay right there." The goddess said a she clenched her fist at him.

**ZAP!**

"There! That'll teach you to tell that horrid tale to others!"

Johnny was charred and singed by the lightning bolt. "Shockingly sweet love." He said as he shook it off. "So, you come here often?"

The goddess put her hands on her waist and turned to the girls. "You see what I have to deal with?"

"Tell me about it! He's very annoying! Not to mention stupid!" Karen said in agreement.

"He's not annoying OR stupid." Popuri said in his defense. She then lowered her voice and added, "He's just very slow."

"I'll drink to that."

"Very slow and STUPID, that is."

Johnny didn't seem to hear them. "Look what I can do!" He said, interrupting their "discussion." "I can call monkeys!" He then started to make monkey noises.

A horde of monkeys suddenly appeared from the trees and caves. They surrounded the girls, who backed up to the pond.

Popuri looked at the simians with astonishment. "He can talk to monkeys?"

The goddess raised a brow. "It must be the simplicity of his mind."

Karen became nervous as she looked at the monkeys. "Aren't these the same monkeys that often attack Gotz?"

"I-I think so."

"Unfortunately, they are."

Karen quickly turned to Johnny. "Call them off!"

"Okay, anything for a sexy senorita." Johnny said before he made monkey sounds again.

Karen relaxed a bit but suddenly tensed up again when she noticed that the monkeys were making angry noises and that the monkeys were advancing closer and closer.

"I thought you said that you were going to call them off!" The goddess screamed at Johnny.

"I did! I told them that I wanted to go out with you, so I have to call you off. So I called them a bunch of stupid geek faces."

"You idiot!" Karen roared as she backed up a bit more. "I said to CALL them off, not TELL them off!"

"Come again?"

Popuri was also getting very nervous. "Um, Miss Goddess? Isn't there a way you can get rid of them?"

"Yeah, but that would involve killing them, and I'm supposed to be merciful to every living creature…" She said when she suddenly saw a roach scurrying about.

**ZZT!**

"..Except for those." She said as she blew off the smoke from her finger. "Besides, monkeys only attack those who angered them and/or destroyed their homes, in which case, Gotz did both."

"Well, what can we do?'

"You could try running." The goddess suggested as she kicked Johnny out of her way first and went to the pond. "As for me, I'm going back home to take a nap. Good luck and happy birthday." She said before disappearing in a flash of light.

"I'll drink to that then."

"Right behind you!"

"EE! EE! EE!"

"Hey wait up!"

**-Evening: Farm-**

Everyone was inside, hiding in the house. They were waiting to surprise the guest of honor… who still hasn't arrived. They've been waiting for a long time now.

Ann, who was hiding behind the door, looked at her watch. "I think you better go look for them, Jack."

Rick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm pretty worried about them now." He said as he hid behind the couch.

Jack was hiding behind his tool box. "Hmm… They have been gone a long time now." He said as got to his feet and went over to the door.

"Wonder what happened to them, budum…"

Jack quickly turned the knob and went out the door. "Maybe they're just chatting with the goddess…" He said a bit worriedly.

Once outside, he whistled for his horse and dog. "Arke! Kite! We're going to look for them!"

Both animals responded and ran over to him. Jack quickly got on the horse. "C'mon! To the pond!"

"Arf!"

"Neigh!"

They quickly crossed over the bridge. They were then about to go the pond when-

"Johnny! Get them away from us, NOW!"

Jack quickly stopped Kite from running. "Karen?" He said as he turned around from where the voice was coming from. "The forest!"

"I'm trying!" He heard Johnny say. "But they don't seem to be listening!"

"EE! EE! EE!"

"Johnny!"

"This is all YOUR fault!"

_That's them all right._

"C'mon!" Jack said before they raced towards the woodcutter's house.

The monkeys were trying to climb up to the roof. "EE! EE!"

Karen, who was sitting with Johnny and Popuri on the top of Gotz's roof, was trying to knock the monkeys down with a stick. She's also blasting Johnny with accusations and insults for his stupidity. "Darn it, Johnny! If you just didn't call…"

**THWACK!**

"…Them in the first place!"

"I have to agree…"

**THWACK!**

Popuri was also hitting the monkeys with a stick. "…With her there."

Johnny also has a stick. "Aw I just-"

"Kite! Arke! Scare them off!"

The trio quickly turned their attention to Jack, who just ordered his animals to scare the monkeys. "Jack!" Both girls call out in unison.

Arke and Kite were quick to obey their master's command.

"ARF! ARF!"

"NEEEEIGH!"

The monkeys quickly stopped trying to get to the trio. "EE! EE! EE!" They cried as they started to scurry back to the forest, Arke and Kite after them.

Seeing the monkeys flee, the trio then started to get down from the roof. Johnny just jumped off with ease, but Jack had to help the girls get down.

Johnny took out a comb and mirror and started to fix his hair. "Well that was-"

**CHOMP!**

"OW!"

Apparently, Arke and Kite chased the monkeys far enough and the goddess' curse kicked in again…

**-Farmhouse-**

"Why is it so dark in here?" Karen asked as she looked around the pitch black house.

"Kind of romantic, don't you think?' Johnny said as he made a pose in the dark.

**SLAP!**

"Don't touch me!"

"I'm turning on the lights...now!" Popuri said as she flipped the switches on.

That was the signal. Everyone quickly jumped out of their hiding places and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Karen's face brightened. "Wha…T-Thank you! This is the best way to end my birthday!"

"Happy birthday, Karen!" They greeted her again.

"Thank you every-"

She was cut off when Johnny suddenly grabbed and dipped her. "Now how would you like to open your present...me!"

Karen looked at the open window and then to the farmer. "Can I?"

Jack shrugged. "Go right ahead."

With a smirk on her face, Karen quickly flipped Johnny and threw him out the window.

"WHOOA-OOF!"

…

"Well, let's get ready for this birthday party, budum!" Chef said, pumping a fist.

"Yeah!" The other sprites said in unison.

Johnny suddenly got back in the room. "Let's do the monkey everyone!" He announced as he started to dance the monkey.

"Don't even mention monkeys!"

"Well since it's a funny looking dance; let's call it "the Johnny."" Popuri said as she joined Johnny.

"Let's do the Johnny everyone!"

The party then went on. Everyone was happy as they sang, danced and partied. Karen received many good gifts and the cake was great. Of course, then it had to end sometime and they had to go home…

"Great party! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, budum!"

Jack watched them leave with a smile on his face. He really had fun tonight.

"Hey," A voice from behind said. "Thanks for saving me and for the party."

Jack turned around to her. "Well I can't say that I did it all myself, but you're welcome."

Karen smiled. "Well I suppose..." She started as she touched his face with both hands and gently brought it closer to hers.

Jack blushed crimson at this. "Ah… Uh…"

"How about a kiss for ol' Johnny?" Johnny suddenly piped in. "My breath is minty fresh." He said as he made a pose.

Karen and Jack either didn't hear him or just ignored him… Well in Karen's case he was either ignored or she didn't hear, but for Jack, he was just kind of busy looking at the brunette's eyes.

"…But thanks anyway." She finished as she closed her eyes and kissed the farmer.

Johnny sat down. "Aw man! Another day without a chick!" He whined as Jack and Karen took no heed of him. He then quickly stood up. "I got it! I'll go visit the goddess!" He said with a pose. "I know how much she digs me."

He turned to Karen and Jack, who are still locked in the kiss. "I'm going to visit the goddess now. If you don't want me to, say "'don't'!"

Well then duh, Karen and Jack both didn't answer.

Johnny smiled. "It shall be done." He said as he rushed towards the springs.

**RWT: **Please tell me what you think. I need a comment and a new angle.


	10. Chapter 10

**RWT: **Just two more weeks before June hits…

**Lee: **And you're not even halfway with Suikoden 5 and you're trying to draw Sophia and Rei in a fanart…

**RWT: **Meh… I don't own anything.

**-Inn-**

"It's nice how everyone in town is such good friends with Jack. You don't see these kinds of things where Johnny and I come from."

"How odd." The mayor commented at Carl's statement as he helped him set the tables for Jack's surprise party. "Things like this are pretty common, that is, unless you're just not a likeable person." The mayor said with a shrug. "Then again, it COULD just be from living on an island."

Greg, who's helping Duke with the streamers, couldn't help but overhear. "I remember when I first came to this island." He started with a grin. "I was a bit suspicious towards everyone's friendly demeanors, but it then just grew on me."

Thomas and Duke agreed in agreement. A memory then popped on Duke's head and he grinned broadly. "Remember the time we threw you that party on Ann's birthday last summer?" He asked in a somewhat loud voice. "Boy, were THOSE great memories!"

Ann was just fixing a table near them and she frowned when he heard Duke. "You speak like it was many years ago!" She called out to him in annoyance. "And **I** don't remember it being so great!"

"Well everyone DID have fun." Her father suddenly called out from behind the counter.

"Yeah, until JOHNNY showed up!"

Manna giggled. "Oh yes. Now I remember." She said as she set down a huge bowl of punch on the table for the party. "Do you want me to tell the story?"

Duke turned to his wife. "Sure. After all, YOU'RE the perfect candidate for storytelling!' He said with hidden meaning.

Manna caught what he meant. "I wasn't asking YOU! I was asking Ann!" 

Ann shrugged tiredly. "Go right ahead." She said before the couple started to bicker. "I'll also fill in the parts that only **I** was there for."

"Well, it all started on your birthday..."

**-Flashback: Summer: Inn: Manna's POV-**

It was a beautiful day…well, as long as you didn't count the rain. So as I was saying, Doug came over to our house and told us about wanting to throw a surprise party for his daughter.

"I want to throw a surprise party for Ann." He said with a little nervousness. "And I want to know if you could help divert her while Gotz, Duke and I prepare things."

Duke was drinking a glass of wine. "HUH!" He suddenly shouted, spitting out the wine. "Who said I was helping!"

So I thought it was a wonderful idea, and agreed for the both of us. Sure, Duke was a little perturbed, but he got over it. Anyways, I decided to go to the springs, knowing full well that she usually hangs out there.

**-Springs-**

Once I arrived there, she was about to leave. So I stopped her and decided to tell her a little about my day. It was a very quiet day but I still had to think of something. So I told her anyways.

Halfway through my story, she stood up. "Uh…that's all well and good…but I want to leave before you know who-"

Before she got a chance to finish, Johnny came over. I think he left from Jack's farm or something. The first thing he did was rush right over to us.

"Hey there pretty mamas." He greeted with a flex of his arm. "How would you like a day with Johnny? Now don't crowd, there's plenty of Johnny for everyone."

Ann groaned. "Too late."

This gave me a great idea. Who better than to distract her than someone she'll try to avoid.

Johnny went over to Ann. "You and I share the same common interests…me!"

"Go away! I don't want a date!"

"Oh, I get it." Johnny said with a pose. "You're playing hard to get. But that's all right with Johnny."

"I'm warning you-"

Ann was cut off when Johnny suddenly grabbed and dipped her. "But enough about us, let's talk about me."

"Grr! You're asking for it!"

"Wait, Ann!" I said, saving Johnny from Ann's angry fist. "I've just had this nice thought. What if we decided to go ahead and show Johnny this wonderful wilderness of ours? Wouldn't that be great?"

Ann was now giving me strange looks, so I had to think of something quick. So I said the first thing that popped up in my mind.

"Besides, he won't leave us alone unless we do."

Ann frowned. "Well I SUPPOSE I could tolerate him for a LITTLE while."

Johnny let go of Ann and made a happy pose. "Alright! Let's get going." He said as he grabbed our hands. "Shall we?"

I looked at him strangely. Ann, on the other hand, crushed his hand.

"I'll be fine!"

So within seconds, we walked through the forest, giving a sort of tour of the place. We looked at the waterfall, the rivers, the trees and even the caves. When we finally reached Mother's Hill, we decided to sit down and looked down at the entire village below. I think this was a costly mistake on Johnny's part.

Johnny was looking over the horizon. "Cool! I can see the whole town from here!" He said with excitement. He then pointed towards Jack's farm. "Isn't that Kai talking to Karen, Popuri, and Jack?"

Ann followed Johnny's finger. "Yes, I believe it is."

Johnny suddenly draped his arm around Ann. "Think they can see us from here?"

Ann was gritting her teeth. "You had better get your arm off me!"

It's too bad that Johnny didn't listen, what with Ann being short tempered and all. I mean really! Did she really have to throw him off the cliff?

**-Flashback's End: End of Manna's POV-**

"What do you mean! You act like I just did it for the fun of it!"

"All he did was put his arm around you."

"That's because you didn't hear what he said next!" Ann roared back at Manna.

"What did he say?" Cliff asked as he helped Rick with the wine crates.

"I'm glad you asked. Here's what happened. I'll also tell the rest of this story."

**-Flashback: Back to Mother's Hill: Ann's POV-**

He placed his arm around me, as was said before. I told him sternly to let go. However, he whispered something in my ear.

"Mama always said that chicks like sweet nothings said in their ears." He whispered as he flexed his arms. "So I'll try it. …You'll amount to nothing. Your life is a waste."

Sure, I could've just dismissed his words as actions of stupidity, but I have a really short fuse, and wasn't thinking straight at the time. I'll also admit that I should've just punched him instead. Now because of what I done, **I** had to take him to the clinic.

**-Clinic-**

The doctor looked him over to see if there were any bones broken. Fortunately, all he needed were a few bandages.

"It's really quite an amazing feat that he could even survive such a fall, much less walk away from it." The doctor said as he wrote down something on his clipboard.

"I know. I'm sorry."

I hated feeling guilty like that, especially since Johnny still looked okay. This was evidenced by him trying to hit on me again.

"You could break my bones." He said as he posed. "You could break my tools. But you could never break my heart. So, wanna go out?"

He should've considered himself lucky when my father suddenly came in.

"Ann! Come to home quickly! We need your help!" He said in panic before running the way he came. I then hurried to the inn.

**-Inn-**

When I entered the building, there was a huge shout which nearly scared me! Come to find out, you guys threw me a surprise party. I was so surprised, I could barely move. Finally, I was able to speak. I was reserved, of course.

I was practically jumping up and down with delight. "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!"

However, my joy was short lived when that bumbling idiot ran inside, running into me in the process! It caused me to crash into the tables. And let me tell you, it really hurt! I got out of the debris of wood, and limped my way over to Johnny.

"You mind watching where you're going!" I shouted at him.

Johnny looked at me in a daze. He then looked at the door then back at me. "Where was I going?"

"You bumped into me, you moron!"

It then hit him. "Sorry! Let me help you!"

I really regretted saying that. For the entire party, all he did was carry me around. Even when I was eating! What was most embarrassing was when he was feeding me, which you all thought was funny! If Jack and Cliff weren't there, I'd have told all of you off!

**-Flashback's End: End of Ann's POV-**

"And that's what happened!"

Doug chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. Still, that was a pretty nice thing he did."

Ann rubbed her head. "Yeah, when he didn't sometimes drop me!"

"It WAS an accident."

"Yeah, but did he have to feed me?" Ann countered. "That was so embarrassing!"

Rick laughed. "Well it WAS pretty hilarious!"

"Rick!" Popuri said as she shot a look at her brother. She then turned to Ann. "At least that's all that happened. It could've been worse. He could've been hitting on you."

"I suppose that's true."

"Yeah. Johnny may not be the brightest bulb of the bunch, but he has a good conscience. I remember when I told him that I was dying." Carl said as he thought about the memory. "He waited on me hand and foot. He even played games with me."

"Were you really dying?" Cliff asked.

Carl shook his head. "No, but I just wanted attention. That now brings me to another subject. Don't EVER get him mad. When he found out about it, he chased me all across town. He would've caught me too, if not for a cute woman passing by."

"Well, at least you learned your lesson, budum." The red sprite commented as he held a plate of food over his head.

**-Meanwhile: Jack's Farm-**

The farmer was working on the fields. He was watering the thirsty crops and getting rid of the weeds. He was supposed to be shopping for some seeds, but because of Karen and Popuri, who are chatting at the moment, he was working on the plants instead.

"You know," Karen started as she looked at the busy farmer. "I never said this before, but doesn't Jack look kind of buff?"

Popuri turned to Jack. "Yeah." She said as she nodded in agreement. "I suppose it's because he works all the time."

"It makes me wonder how Johnny stays in shape, especially with what little work he does." Karen said as she narrowed her eyes at Johnny, who was relaxing under the shadow of the barn.

"Well, at least he's stopped hitting on you."

"That's true." She said coolly as she nodded again.

"So do you think Jack will show you the Blue Feather he got this year?" Popuri suddenly brought up with a mischievous tone.

The usually calm girl suddenly blushed. "You know, I-I thought about that. I'm not really sure." She admitted a bit nervously. "I hope so, but I don't want to rush him into doing something that he may not be ready for."

Popuri sighed. "You two have such a romantic relationship." She said with a frown. "I could've had one this year, but noooo! My brother just had to chase Kai away! Now I have to wait until next summer!" She finished with a huff.

Out of the blue, Johnny suddenly grabbed and dipped Popuri. "Did I just hear that you say that you were available?"

"Um…well..."

Now it was Karen's turn to be mischievous. "Let's see you squirm your way out of this one. YOU said he was just slow after all."

"Is that a yes?" Johnny asked with a grin.

Popuri's face was quite red with her position but she suddenly thought of something. Uh…Wannaseethegoddess?

Johnny dropped her in response. "You bet! I completely forgot about her!" He said with a pose. He then turned to Jack. "I'll be back shortly." He said before running off to the deity's dwelling.

Karen frowned at this. "Way to go, Popuri! Now we have to keep the goddess from ruining the surprise!"

Popuri's head was downcast. "I'm sorry. I just panicked."

At that second then, Jack approached them. "Ruin what?" He asked as he put down a basketful of produce.

"N- Nothing! Nothing at all!" Both girls said in panicked chorus.

Jack looked at them confusingly in response.

"Johnny went to see the goddess!" Karen quickly piped, stopping the awkwardness.

"Again! We have to hurry then!"

**-Pond-**

The trio quickly got to the pond. They ran real fast from the farm, but they weren't fast enough, since Johnny already dropped a turnip and a penny in.

"Oh no! We're too late!" Jack said as the pillar of light appeared.

The goddess then appeared from the blinding light. She strangely had her eyes closed and her brow was twitching. "If this is Johnny again, I am going to take it out on that Carl creature!"

At that, the trio quickly grabbed Johnny. Popuri quickly clamped his mouth before he could say anything and dragged him into the cave behind the falls.

"Uh…no. It's me, Jack." Jack said after Popuri and Johnny were out of sight.

"And me, Karen."

The goddess then took that time to open her eyes. "Good. What is it that you wanted?" She asked. She then turned to Jack. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thank you."

"Well I just wanted to see you again, that's all." Karen said.

The goddess raised her brow at her. "Really? Nothing else?"

"Yep. That's all." Karen said, nodding nervously.

"Ooookay… How about you?" She asked as she turned to Jack.

Jack quickly thought of an excuse. "Well… I uh…was wondering how the power berry tree was faring."

"Well it's almost ready. It'll bear fruit next summer."

"Well that's nice." Jack said. "I just wanted to know. Sorry for bothering you."

The goddess smiled. "No problem. I'm just glad that Johnny wasn't here."

Jack grinned a bit uneasily. "Well, we got to be going now." He said as they started

"Oh, wait." The goddess said and stopping them. "You DO have other business to attend to...but first, I want to give you a gift. It IS your birthday after all."

Jack shook his head. "Ah, that's not really necessary."

The goddess shook her head. "I insist. Now just give me a moment to think about the perfect gift."

**-Cave-**

"Why did you drag me in here anyways?"

Both Popuri and Johnny were sitting on the floor of the cave. "Well if the goddess saw you, she would be very angry. And that's always not a good thing." Popuri replied.

"Nah, she won't be angry. After all, she has her Johnny to keep her company." Johnny said as he made a pose.

"Um… Johnny? Let me tell you something about the goddess."

"Tell me what?"

"Well you see, the goddess isn't they type of person that would date mortals, especially you. To tell you the truth, she can't stand you."

"Come again?"

"Not to be any more blunt, but she'd rather see you dead than to be with you." She said with a bow. "I'm sorry I had to tell you that."

"So she isn't playing hard to get?"

Popuri shook her head. "Nope. In fact, here's a good way to tell if a girl hates you. If she tells you to drop dead or to get lost or something like that, she doesn't like you."

Johnny crossed his arms and thought what about she said. He then suddenly got up. "Wait a second...she hasn't said that yet! YES! There's still time!"

**-Pond-**

"What was that?"

"Um...Johnny looking for you?" Jack said with a sheepish grin.

The blinding light suddenly surrounded her in response. "Then I'd better leave quickly!" She said as she turned to Jack. "Just think of what you would like most and then come back here. I'll grant it to you." She said before disappearing.

"Whew! That was a close one." Karen said as the goddess vanished.

"Johnny! Popuri! You can come out now!" Jack called out to the pair.

Both of them emerged from the cave. "That was close. Nice save, Jack." Popuri said.

Johnny looked around. "She's gone already?" He asked. "Well I suppose I could always-"

Karen quickly stopped him and grabbed the turnip that he took out from his pocket. "You idiot! What makes you think the goddess has any interest in you!"

"Mama always said that women like to play hard to get."

"Uh, Johnny? Did your mother ever tell you that women who want to hurt you don't want to be anywhere near you?"

"No, but I thought that was another game of hard to get."

"Well it isn't."

Johnny thought about Popuri's words again. A conclusion then hit him after a second. "Aha! They REALLY must like me if they want to hide it THAT much! I still got it!" He enthused as he made a pose.

Popuri put up a puzzled face. "What just happened here?"

Karen rolled her eyes. "Go figure."

Unbeknownst to them, Johnny had dropped a turnip to the pond.

"Johnny!"

The goddess then appeared in a flash of light.

"Too late."

"Did you already make up-" She cut her sentence short when she saw who summoned her. Her brow twitched as the sky started to darken. "What does it take to get through your thick skull! Get lost!"

Johnny grinned. "You must really dig me."

The goddess cracked her knuckles. "Then prepare to be six feet under. I won't kill you, but I do mean that literally.

The goddess raised a fist when Popuri intervened. "No! Don't! It's not finished yet!"

"What's not finished yet?" The goddess asked.

The Popuri went over to the goddess and whispered "it" to her ear.

After the whispers, the goddess nodded. "I see. It does seem that I've been left out, though."

Karen bowed apologetically. "Sorry about that. We just didn't think you'd be interested in being around mortals."

Popuri also bowed. "We're sorry."

"Think nothing of it." She said as she snapped her fingers. "There, everything is now ready. We may go now." She said as she turned to Johnny. "But first…"

Popuri quickly got between her and Johnny. "No! Don't!"

The goddess looked at the girl strangely. "You mortals sure are weird." She said with a sigh. "Fine, I'll leave him be."

"So, want to go out?"

The deity narrowed her eyes. "I'll teleport us there. Johnny will be traveling ahead of us."

"I will?"

"Yes." The goddess said as she shot her finger up, making Johnny fly all the way to the Inn. "There, shall we?"

"Yes, let's."

"What the heck is going on?" Jack asked before the goddess teleported them away.

**-Evening: Inn-**

"Wow! Thank you everyone. I don't know what to say." Jack said after his friends shouted, "Surprise!" at him.

Though the fact that things magically set themselves up, the fact that Johnny came crashing in, and that the goddess is going to party with them, was a bigger surprise for the crowd.

"Thank you is fine." Ann said with a grin.

Jack gleefully turned to Popuri and Karen. "You two knew this all along? Thanks!"

Karen threw her arms around his neck. "It was nothing. You're a great guy." She said before glared at Johnny who was already stuffing himself like pig. "Unlike SOME people I know!"

Johnny was holding a bottle of soda as he looked at her with a mouth full of food. "Hm?"

Bold snatched the soda from his hands. "Not yet, budum!"

"Yeah, Johnny. You're supposed to wait until AFTER we sing." Carl said.

Johnny just grabbed another soda from the counter and continued stuffing himself.

Popuri walked over to him. "Please, Johnny?"

Johnny took one look at Popuri and stopped eating. "Oh, alright." He said as he turned to Jack. "Merry Christmas."

…

…

…

Johnny got to the dance floor. "Do the monkey with me!" He said with a pose.

This earned a frown from Karen.

"Uh…he means, do the Johnny!" Carl quickly corrected.

Karen shrugged. "I guess. But first, how about we sing to Jack?"

The crowd smiled. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy…"

So yeah… They had fun dancing, singing, eating and partying all day long.

**RWT: **Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**RWT: **Senior life is…. –**Faints in exhaustion-**

**Lee: **Er…Don't own anything. –**Drags RWT of the stage-**

**-Farm: Hothouse: First Day of Winter-**

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…"

Jack took his cap and placed it on his work's head. "Oh let it snow…"

The farmer had just finished building a snowman beside his hothouse. He grinned as he admired his work. The snow had come. Fortunately, only enough to have fun with.

"Hey, Jack." A voice from behind called out.

His grin broadened as he turned around. "Hey, Karen."

"So you wanted to see me?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"I'm listening."

**-Pond-**

THUMP!

…

…

…

Johnny crossed his arms and looked at the turnips that were sitting on the frozen water. "Hmmm… That's weird. She should've come out by now." He said as he looked at the water.

Johnny was actually trying to summon the goddess by throwing turnips in. But since it IS winter, the water has been frozen and the turnips that Johnny chucked cannot get in.

The dimwitted blond picked up a rock. "Maybe this'll-" He stopped his sentence when something got his ear's attention.

He got up and posed. "My chick senses are tingling! I better answer their call!" He said as he dashed quickly toward the sound.

"Johnny's he-"

**CRASH!**

So quickly that he crashed into the person that was making the sound.

Johnny was fine, but the person he crashed into was thrown to the ground. After dusting himself, he looked at who it was.

It was Elli, the nurse. "Ow!" She winced. "I think my ankle is sprung!"

Johnny grinned and posed. "Hey there pretty mama." He said as he pointed a finger at the basket that was lying beside her. "Is that food for me?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Elli said as she grabbed the basket with her hand. She went slightly red. "They're for Jack. I know it took a long time to do so, but I finally have the time, not to mention the courage, to speak to him. You know, to tell him how I really feel about him." She admitted.

"But doesn't he like that Karen chick?" Johnny asked with a raised brow.

"I think so, which is why I need to hurry."

Johnny posed. "So why not go out with Johnny?"

Elli shook her head. "Uh… I think I'll pass." She said as she tried to get up. She then just fell back down to the grass as a result. "Ouch! I can barely move my leg!"

Johnny scooped her up. "I'll carry you." He said as he starts to walk. "I have to go to town anyways. Maybe I can "fish" for the goddess."

**-Farm-**

"I see Karen is already here." Elli commented as she and Johnny watched the pair from behind the chicken house.

"What's that?'' Johnny asked as he pointed at what Jack's hand.

It didn't take another second for Elli to know what it was.

"Oh no! I'm too late!"

Jack's fingers were shaking as he held the Blue Feather. "Karen, I-I've given this a lot of thought. It took quite a while but…will you…marry me?"

Karen's eyes brightened with indescribable happiness. "Y-Yes! I will!" Karen squealed as she threw her arms around the nervous farmer. "I've waited for this day to come!"

Jack's anxiety faded as he smiled. "Oh Karen…" He said before they engaged in a kiss a few seconds later.

Elli was now completely heartbroken as Johnny frowned. "Aw man! I STILL don't have a chick!" He whined as he turned to the forlorn nurse. "Will you be my chick? ...Elli? Elli?"

Elli is obviously too shocked to speak or hear Johnny. All she could really hear was the shattering of her heart as she watched the pair in such an act.

Johnny posed, unwary of her grief. "Hm…maybe she's daydreaming of me." He said as he turned to the pair. "Hey Jack! What's that feather for!"

Both lovers snapped their eyes open as they broke the kiss.

_**JOHNNY!**_

But instead of rushing towards the moron who interrupted their moment, Karen and Jack blushed in embarrassment that they were seen like that.

"W-Well, I have to go now anyways."

Jack scratched his head awkwardly. "S-Sure, I'll be seeing you."

She waved. "Yeah, I have a lot of people to tell anyways. Bye!" She said before leaving.

He watched her go. "Yeah, later." Jack said as he waved at her with a smile on his face.

"Hey Jack! What is that feather for?"

Jack's brow twitched as his happy face turned to that of annoyance. Johnny had been ruining one moment too many.

He turned to Johnny with a tired sigh. He then saw the shocked Elli and quickly rushed over. "What happened to her!"

Johnny put Elli down and shrugged. "She ran into me and sprung her leg. That's about all I know." He answered with a pose.

Jack quickly picked her up. "I'll get her inside. You go get the doctor. Hurry!" He told him before running towards the house.

After Jack got in the house, Johnny scratched his head. "Uh…Now where was I supposed to go again?' He asked himself.

Due to his short attention span, he forgot what Jack just told him. Aw man! I wish I was paying atten-"

"Arf! Arf!"

"Uh-oh!" Johnny said before bolting off to town.

**-Town-**

"AH! Mad dog!" Johnny screamed as he dashed towards the streets with Arke running behind him.

"ARF!"

As Johnny was running in panic, the clinic door opened and Carl exited the building. Hearing the various screams and barks, Carl turned around and saw Johnny. "Hey Johnny! What have you been up to?"

Johnny didn't answer as he rushed towards Carl. He grabbed the guy and hurled him towards the pooch. "Here! Take HIM instead!" He shouted before running inside the clinic and slamming the door behind him.

The curse quickly "stopped" when Johnny got in the building. "Arf!" The canine yelped as he quickly jumped away to avoid Carl crashing unto him.

**CRASH!**

Carl clutched his head. "Ooh… Venus looks quite bright today…" He said woozily.

"Ruff?"

Carl shook his head. "Wha? Huh?" He muttered before picking himself up and dusting himself. He then noticed Arke looking up at him. "Hey, Arke."

The dog wagged his tail. "Arf!"

Carl picked him up and petted him. "Good boy. I wonder what Johnny did to make you so angry?" He asked himself as he kept stroking Arke.

…

He shrugged and looked at Arke. "Oh well. I was going to the Harvest Sprites' house. You want to come with me?"

"Arf!" Arke answered with a nod.

"Well then, let's go."

**-Clinic-**

The doctor kept scribbling on his notebook. "Hello, Johnny. Did you get hurt again?" He asked without looking at him.

Johnny shook his head. "No." He replied with a pose. "But I was supposed to be telling you something. But I forgot what it was."

"Is someone sick?" The doctor asked with a raised brow.

Johnny scratched his head. "Not that I know of." He replied dubiously. "But that Elli chick sprung her leg…or something like that."

The doctor's brow twitched.

"But never mind that! I have to remember why I was sent here."

The doctor narrowed his dark eyes. "Was it because of Elli's leg?"

Johnny shot a finger at him. "Quiet! I'm trying to think!" He barked before sitting on the ground and going to deep thought.

…

…

…

Seeing it was pointless waiting, the doctor just rolled his eyes, grabbed a first-aid kit and went out the door.

**-Jack's House-**

Both Jack and Elli were sitting in the dining room when Elli finally came to.

"Elli? Are you alright?" Jack asked with much concern in his voice.

"Yes, a little." Elli replied.

"What happened?"

"Well I sprung my leg." She replied. "…But that wasn't what upset me." She added sadly.

"Then what?"

Elli didn't answer as tears were brimming on her eyes.

"Elli?"

His obliviousness was getting to be too much for her now.

"YOU! OKAY!"

"H-Huh? What did I do?"

**-Outside-**

_Hmm…How did Elli sprang her-_

"…I-I fell in l-love with you…"

The doctor's eyes went bigger than they could really have.

"I wasn't sure when but after these times, I knew. But I was too busy and shy to tell you and…"

The doctor rubbed his temples before setting the kit down on the porch.

"…it's too late…"

A winter breeze blew as the doctor heaved a tired sigh. He then left.

_We were somewhat in the same boat then…_

**-Inside-**

…

"…Elli… I had no idea how you felt until now. I-I'm flattered and all. But…I love Karen."

Elli nodded sadly. "Yes, I understand. I'm sorry for bothering you about it."

Jack shook his head. "It wasn't any bother." He said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Besides, I know someone who will be VERY happy that your heart is still open."

"Johnny?"

_Er_… _"Um… besides him."_

Elli relaxed a bit due to that answer. "Who?"

Jack smiled. "The doctor."

Elli wiped her eyes and looked at him strangely. "W-What?"

"He doesn't really show it, I know. But he likes you a lot. He's just too shy to say anything."

Elli blinked. "I-I had no idea..." She said with a sigh. "I guess we were in the same boat in this situation."

Jack nodded. "Very much so." He said when his eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey! I have an idea! Why don't you ask him out on a date?" He suggested excitedly.

"W-What? So soon? I wouldn't know how to go by asking."

"Then I'll have HIM ask you." Jack said as he stood up from the chair. "After all, he needs to speak up about it. Otherwise, he might miss his chance."

Elli was still worried. "U-Uh…"

"Don't worry! It'll work out!"

Elli couldn't help but just give a small smile. "Thank you, Jack. I hope you and Karen will be very happy together."

"You're welcome." Jack said as he helped her up. "Well let's go to the bar. I'll get Ann and Cliff to help me."

"Alri- Hey, wait a minute. What happened to Johnny?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. He was supposed to be back now. He probably got lost again. Oh well. He'll find his way back."

"And wait,"

"Hmm?"

"How did you know that he likes me?"

Jack laughed a bit at this as he scratched his head. "Well I didn't really KNOW, but let's just say that those rookie Harvest Sprites are a LOT more talkative than Manna, and that they really seem to like "monitoring" the whole village."

"Oh." Elli said with a laugh.

**-Clinic-**

"What's with you, Johnny?" Rick asked as he and his family got in the clinic and noticed the blundering idiot.

Johnny was still sitting on the ground, thinking.

"He's as motionless as a statue." Lilia commented.

Johnny suddenly got up. "I got it!" He said with a pose. "Talking monkeys are invading the farm!"

Lilia, Rick and Popuri looked at him strangely.

…

"WHAT?"

Johnny ignored their confused looks and looked around. "Hey, where's the doc?" He asked.

Popuri shrugged and Johnny noticed her.

"Pretty chick alert!" He exclaimed as he grabbed and dipped her. "Say, how 'bout you and me share a soda right now?" He asked as he magically pulls out a six pack of cola out of his pants. "I got some right here."

"Hey! Get away from my sister!"

Popuri turned to her brother in annoyance. "Mind your own business! It's bad enough you had to chase Kai away! Jack, Kai, Cliff and Johnny are the only ones in this village who DON'T treat me like a child!

"Well if you actually MADE some good choices in life, maybe everyone WOULD treat you like an adult!"

"You are SO stuck up! If it wasn't for me, you would STILL be suspecting Jack of being shady!"

"That's only because he was new at the time! I had to make sure!"

"Well then DON'T involve ME!" She lashed out before turning to her mom. "Mom! Why do you let Rick treat me like this!"

"He's only trying to protect his little sister, even though he DOES seem to be a little overprotective." Lilia replied.

Popuri sighed. "I know. But I'm not a little girl anymore. I can make decisions on my own." She said before turning to Johnny. "You can let go of me now."

Johnny released her. "Oh, sorry."

Rick was obviously surprised at this. "You mean he ACTUALLY let go?"

"Yeah. He's really not so bad once you overlook his lack of intelligence and common sense."

Rick grinned. "In other words, a big stupid dog."

Popuri glared at him. "That was SO mean!" She shouted before turning the doorknob open and storming out of the clinic.

He ran after her. "Popuri!" He called out. "Come back here!"

Before the door closed behind Rick, the doctor entered. Lilia, relieved that this fiasco had passed, quickly turned her attention to the Doctor.

"Doctor! I'm so glad you're here. I just came for my weekly medication."

His face is usually calm and doesn't show much feeling, but due to the earlier revelations…

He walked over to the counter and took out his clipboard. "Oh…yes..." He said in dead monotone.

_Doctor?_

He opened his drawer. "Number eleven, right?" He asked as he took out the prescription. He then walked over to Lilia and gave it to her. "Here you go."

"Doctor? Are you all right?

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

Johnny suddenly got up from his position again. "Doc! I finally remembered what it was I was supposed to tell you! The chickens escaped from Jacks coop!"

"But I thought you said it was talking monkeys?" Lilia asked with much puzzle.

"Right, what'd I say?"

…

Johnny slumped back down again. "Oh… Er… That wasn't it! Hmmm… Let me think again…" He said as he went back to his useless pondering.

Lilia raised a brow at him. _He really is a strange one… _She then turned to the doctor. He was now sitting on his chair, his arms crossed and his eyes downcast.

Lilia got up from her seat. "Doc-"

"I've got it!" Johnny shouted, standing up again with his finger in the air. "Elli's going to tell Jack what she really feels and I'm going to eat her basket of food!"

"What…did you say?"

Johnny, for the umpteennth time, sat back down and ignored Lilia's question. "Ah… No…That wasn't it. Let me try again…"

Even if it WAS from Johnny's ridiculous thinking, it somewhat made sense. Lilia turned back to the doctor. His hand was on his head, covering his eyes.

"Doctor…you…you overheard?"

The doctor just lowered his head in response.

Lilia walked over to him. "Doctor…"

…

…

…

"It's true…" The doctor said finally. "I…was outside when she said it… We were…in the same boat…but not in the same direction…"

The kind mother looked at him sympathetically. "Well… I don't think it could happen."

"…"

"Karen just announced that Jack had proposed to her earlier in the day…"

_What?_

"It may be a wild guess but I believe that Elli may have overheard that-"

"Wait! I've got it!" Johnny cut in again as he shot his finger in the air. "Jack has a feather and…and…uh…let me try that again."

Lilia looked at him strangely. "…And Johnny was with her when she did." She finished.

The doctor just sighed tiredly.

"…Well why don't you ask her out then? I can arrange the time and place."

The doctor's face did not show sadness this time rather his eyes widened. "Excuse me? I couldn't possibly do that."

"Why not?"

"It's…it's the last thing she'd want to hear right now. And she'd never say yes." He reasoned.

"You'll never know unless you try. Besides, you want to end up lonely?" Lilia asked as she pointed at Johnny. "Like him?"

Johnny seemed to have stopped thinking and is currently staring at a pocket mirror. "Man I'm pretty."

Worry streaked the doctor's face. "I see your point."

"I heard everything from Jack!" Ann boomed as she came rushing in the clinic. "YOU are going to ask ELLI out and that's final! Understand!"

Both the doctor and Lilia blinked at her.

"Um…Ann?" Cliff started as he appeared behind the hot headed girl. "I don't think this was the approach that Jack was referring to."

"Oops!" Ann said as she realized it. "Uh… Hehe, I guess I blurted things out too soon." She then noticed Johnny. "Oh no…"

Strangely though, Johnny did not rush towards her and do any of his normal shenanigans on her. "Available chicks are getting really hard to come by." He said as he posed. "I'm running out of options!"

"What are you talking about?" Ann said with much confusion.

Johnny pointed at Cliff. "He likes you. Jack told me so."

Both Ann and Cliff went utterly red.

Johnny faced Cliff. "Ann likes you too." He said as he nodded his head. "KAREN told me that so I would go away." He added with a pose. "She also says that you bought a Blue Feather just in case Cliff never gave one to you."

"N-No I didn't!" Ann denied as she blushed the more.

Johnny walked over to her. "Yes you did." He said as he pulled one out of her pocket. "It's right here!"

Before Ann could send him to kingdom come, Carl stepped in.

"Oh hello everyone." He greeted, not aware at all at what's happening. He then noticed the feather. "Whoa! Is that YOUR Blue Feather, Johnny?"

"No, it's-"

"Don't listen to him!"

**WHAM!**

"AHHH!" Johnny screamed as he was sent flying out the window.

**CRASH!**

"My flowers!" They heard Jeff cry out from outside.

"Oh, I get it." Carl said as he finally become aware of what's what. He turned to Cliff. "So you finally decided to give it to her? It HAS been sitting under your bed for a long time now."

"Uhh…" Cliff said as he fidgeted with nervousness and embarrassment. He then noticed that Ann was looking at him.

…

"I…"

Ann slowly set down the chair she used to whack Johnny with. "Cliff…"

…

Cliff shut his eyes and gulped. "I…I…" He then sighed as he opened his eyes. "Ann I…forgive me for this but after the times I've spent with you…I've fallen…in love with you. Even if you only treat me like a friend…I couldn't help it…"

"Oh…" Ann muttered, obviously not knowing what to say.

Cliff lowered his head. "…Well there you have it. I never said anything because I thought that such a wonderful person like you would never have any interest in a lowlife like me..."

Ann quickly shook her head and snapped out of her daze. "D-Don't ever say that about yourself! I won't let you!" She blurted out before looking down to the floor herself in embarrassment. "T-The truth is, aside from Jack, you're the nicest person I've ever met. I-I love you too, Cliff." She admitted as she went red again. "I-I'm not sure when but…"

"Ann…" Cliff said as he slowly raised his head.

Ann raised her head too. "I've wished so many times to be able to be with you always…" She said as their eyes met.

…

"Oh Ann…"

"See what would've happened if THEY waited too long?" Lilia whispered to the doctor as they watched the pair's tender moment. "I hope you learned something from this."

The doctor looked at Lilia and nodded in agreement. "That I have." He replied with a defeated sigh. "…I…suppose I should give "it" a try." He then turned to Ann and Cliff, who were smiling and holding each other's hands. "I thank you…"

Ann was still looking at Cliff's eyes. "You're welcome." Ann said as she held on to Cliff's warm hand. "By the way, Elli's at the bar, waiting for you."

"W-What did you say?"

"Well after a recent heartbreak, Jack decided to have you and her go out on a date." Cliff answered as he and Ann continued to stare at each other's eyes.

"Don't worry. I heard everything." The doctor said as he opened the door. "Well I'm off." He said as he went out.

"Weren't THESE just the cutest amount of things I've seen today?" Lilia gushed as she headed for the door herself. "Well I have to go now. Without me, Popuri will NEVER accept Rick's apologies. Have fun." She said before shutting the door behind her.

"Well I need to be going too." Carl said as he opened the door. "Once the lake completely freezes up, I'll have a new area to explore. Bye!" He said before leaving.

It seems that the couple could finally be alo-

"Aw man!" Johnny whined as he suddenly busted in the room. "Everybody's gone again!" He then saw Ann and Cliff. "What's with you two?"

Ann looked at him with an irritated expression. "Nothing, just a certain farm boy that I need to yell at." _Not to mention someone to send flying too._

Johnny posed. "Jack gave that Karen chick a blue feather today."

A grin of mischief appeared on Ann's face. "Really? Now THIS is news!" She said excitedly as she turned to Cliff. "Come on! Let's go tease him about it a little."

"Well after all the teasing he's done to US, it would be a nice change of pace." Cliff agreed as they started to leave for the inn.

**-Inn-**

Won couldn't help but look up from his "Scammed List" from time to time to look at how Elli was doing. She was sitting on a lone table, waiting for the doctor.

_Oooh, where is he?_

The door creaked open.

_Finally!_

"Elli?" The doctor said as he approached her.

"Y-Yes?"

He hesitated to sit down. "Ah…Earlier today, I heard your conversation with Jack..."

Elli put her head down. "I kind of figured that, what with leaving your first aid kit by the door. But it was my entire fault anyway..."

The doctor quickly pulled out a chair and sat down. "N-No! It is MY fault as well. I should've spoken up much sooner."

"No, it isn't your fault at all. If you had, I might've turned you down."

Won frowned. _Oh no._

"But I should've at least TRIED. It's my fault."

The little squirts suddenly went out of their hiding place-from under the counter- and ran towards the couple.

"No, you were right about not trying. I might've hurt you further. It's m-"

They couldn't take this beating around the bush anymore. "Just ask her out already! Be a man!" Her little brother blurted out.

"Same goes to you, Elli!" May added as she shot a finger at her. "Minus the man part!"

The nurse and doctor just stared at them in surprise. Won quickly came to the rescue.

"Now, now. It's not nice to interrupt adults when they're having a moment. I'm sure they were just getting to that part." He said as he suddenly brought out a bouquet of roses from his bag. "I believe you were about to give her these?"

The doctor took them and handed them to Elli. "H-Here."

Elli smiled. "Thank you very much. I love flowers."

"Weren't you going to ask her to go to the restaurant right behind the harvest sprites house?" Won piped.

"But there isn't a restaurant behind their house."

"There is NOW." Won answered. "They thought this place needed one, so they built one."

The doctor played along. "So will you do me the honors of attending?"

Elli nodded. "Okay, I would really like that." She answered as she looked at her watch. "Oh my! It's gotten pretty late! She exclaimed as she turned to the kids. "Come on! We have to get back home!" She said as she got up from her seat.

The doctor stood up too to walk her out. But before he did, he whispered to Won, "Thank you for helping out at the last minute. How much do I owe you?"

Won shook his head. "It's already been taken care of." Won replied before leaving. "You have very good friends."

_Thanks, Jack._


	12. Chapter 12

**RWT: **School, nuff' said.

**Lee: **We own nothing.

"And now that you two have said your vows…"

Pastor Carter looked around the audience. It was a happy day in the church as the pastor stood near the happy couple who were about to be married- Jack and Karen.

"If there is anyone in this room who does not wish for these two to be wed together in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace." He said, closing his good book.

Johnny, who was sitting on the front pew, raised his hand.

"Yes, Johnny?"

"When's the movie starting?"

…

It couldn't be helped when Johnny earned some stares.

Carter just chuckled. "This isn't a movie, Johnny. It's a wedding."

"Really?" Johnny said with a pose. "Who's getting hitched?"

Carter looked at him strangely. "Jack and Karen." He answered as he gestured to them.

Jack and Karen were holding hands as they stared at Johnny.

_What a MORON._

_He really is stupid…_

"Is there going to be free food afterwards?"

"Yes."

"Cool."

"Are you done?"

"Well…" Johnny said as he thought for a while.

…

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

_He really is a strange man..._

"Good." Carter said as he turned to Jack and Karen. "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride." He proclaimed.

The two gladly complied. The crowd cheered as they did. After their smooch, Karen threw the bouquet she held to the audience.

Johnny accidentally caught it. He gave it a good look. "Flowers are for girls!" He said as he threw it behind his shoulder.

"Grab it!"

"It's mine!" The single girls cried as they dove for the flowers.

"Hey let go!"

Seconds later, after the smoke cleared, and the pushing and wrestling stopped, it was Ann who was holding the prize triumphantly.

"Ha! I'm going to be married next!"

The other girls groaned as they dusted themselves and walk away in defeat. In a struggle such as that, no one can really win against Ann.

Jack took this as his cue to throw his brooch to the single guys. The brooch flew; hit Cliff on the side of the head…

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

…And fell innocently on his tuxedo pocket.

The guys didn't bother to give a fight for it; rather they applauded on the seemingly lucky catch. They applauded more when Ann neck-tackled her future husband.

Carl was sitting beside Johnny as he wiped a tear from his eyes. "That was a very romantic scene!" He said as he blew his nose on a tissue. "Don't you think so, Johnny?" He asked as he turned around. Johnny wasn't beside him anymore. "...Johnny?"

Carl turned around to the slobbering sounds from the food table. Johnny wasted no time in eating, starting with the wedding cake.

Johnny was about to swallow another slice of the cake when he noticed all the people staring at him. "She did it!" He said as he quickly pointed to May.

"What?"

Popuri walked over to the buffet table beside the bumbling buffoon. "Never mind them." She scoffed as she made a plate for herself. "And to think that I'll have to wait ANOTHER year to get married!"

As the other guests went to the table to eat, Karen tugged on Jack's bowtie. "So, I guess it's over to OUR farm then." She said as Jack turned to her.

Jack nodded and smiled in agreement. "Yeah, it-Oh no! I just remembered!" He suddenly exclaimed when he realized something. "Where's Johnny going to stay for the week? He can't stay in the house during our honeymoon!"

Johnny was making his fifth serving. "I don't mind. You won't even know that I'm here."

Karen glared at him. "I won't have our privacy invaded!" She roared as she turned to Doug. "Don't you have a spare room in your inn?"

Doug almost dropped his plate on that question. "Uh…Er…you see, that is to say...it's already been taken by Carl. Yeah! That's it! Taken by Carl!"

"Couldn't he just share a room with Carl?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mi- MPH!" Carl tried to say until Doug quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shut it!" The innkeeper whispered to his ear. 

Jack turned to Chef. "How about if he stays at your house?"

Chef crossed his arms. "Well, I'll have to talk it over with the others, budum." The elf said as he turned around to his comrades. They were all shaking their heads. "Sorry, but majority rules, budum." Chef said as he turned back to Jack.

"I have an idea!" Popuri piped. "How about he stays with us? It'll only be for a few days."

Rick quickly spat the juice he was drinking. 'What! No way! I won't allow it!"

Popuri turned to him heatedly. "Why not? We HAVE a spare room, you know!"

"How about he stays at Zack's house instead?" Rick quickly suggested. "It's bigger, and more out of the way."

"Um…" Zack started nervously. "You can't. I already share the house with Greg."

_My house will be in shambles, what with all the shiny stuff I have in there!  
_  
"Well, what about Gotz?"

Popuri looked around. "Where is Gotz?"

…

"That settles it! He has no other choice!" Popuri said. "Besides, what kind of people would we be if we just let him stay in the streets?"

"Like everybody else." Rick replied.

Lilia decided to join in. "Don't be silly. It wouldn't be any trouble at all. Besides, you know it's not wise to always follow the crowd."

Rick raised his hands in the air in exasperation. "I give up!" He said before turning to Carl. "WHY couldn't he stay with you?"

"Well-"

"Because I say so!" Doug quickly interjected. "No more room!"

**-Next Morning: Poultry Farm-**

"How do you turn this thing on?"

Popuri looked at Johnny strangely as she set some plates down on the table. "But that's a fireplace."

"Then why does Rick always watch it?" Johnny asked as he stared at the flames.

Popuri shrugged as she looked at her brother watching the vermillion flames dance about. "I don't know. I guess he just does."

Johnny was already focusing at the flames, paying no attention to her. "Ooh, fiery."

Popuri sighed at his short attention span. "I'll go in the kitchen and make some popcorn." She said before doing so.

The flames reflected on Rick's glasses. "You know, I'm not sure why I even watch this." He started. "I guess it's because of the bright color this flame gives off. By the way, this isn't a TV."

Johnny didn't hear him. "Ooh…fire…"

As they watched the dancing vermillion, the door creaked open.

Carl entered the room. "Hi Rick. Hi Johnny." He greeted them. "Cliff and I were going to explore that winter mine. Want to come with us?"

Rick shook his head. "No, that's alright. Dark places give me the creeps."

Johnny turned to Carl with a raised eyebrow. "With you? Forget it!"

"Mary and her dad are also coming with us."

With the mention of Mary's name, Johnny shot up. "Is Mary that chick with the glasses?"

Carl nodded. "Yep. The one and only."

Johnny suddenly sped towards him and grabbed him by the collar. "Then let's go! Times a wastin'!" He said before dragging Carl towards the mountains.

The door slammed behind them before Carl could say anything.

Rick grinned. "Finally… Alone at last…" He said when he smelled the popcorn.

Popuri entered the room. "Well here it is." She said as she set the popcorn on the table. "Where's Johnny?" She asked after looking around.

"Carl invited him to explore the winter mines. He should be back later."

"Oh, well I hope they don't get lost." She said before going to the stairs. "I'll be in my room, watching TV. They're showing this really great romance movie." She said before heading up.

Rick watched his sister go. _Well for the time being, Johnny and Popuri ARE far from each other.  
_  
**-Winter Mine: Entrance-**

Basil stretched and breathed the fresh mountain air. "Ah, the fresh scent of morning air. I just KNOW we're going to have a great day!"

Johnny zipped beside Mary. "And I'LL make sure SHE doesn't get lost."

Mary quickly hid behind her dad. "W-Why did he have to come along?"

"Because Johnny likes to go digging in caves. He would prove a valuable asset should we ever get lost." Carl answered simply.

Basil went over to his daughter. "That and he's expendable, should something go wrong." He whispered. 

Carl overheard that. "While that might be true, what could POSSIBLY go wrong in such a peaceful forest?"

Johnny suddenly pointed to the trees. "Look! Monkeys!"

"What?"

"Ee! Ee!" The monkeys cried out as the whole horde of them ran towards the group with much aggression. They seem to have been disturbed by their presence.

"They don't look too friendly…" Basil said.

"Run!" Carl cried as the group, except for Johnny, followed suit.

The monkeys ran after the group. Even though Johnny was just standing there, they just ran past him.

After the group ran to the cave, the monkeys stopped chasing them. "Uu!" One of the monkeys, maybe the leader, sounded out before turning to Johnny.

"Uu! Uu!"

Johnny's monkey communicating skills kicked in. "Really? She's actually inside?"

The monkey nodded.

Johnny posed. "Oh, then why did you chase the others inside the caves?"

"Uu! Uu!"

"You think they're annoying?"

"Ee!"

"Ohh!" He exclaimed. "You mean to say that CARL is annoying."

The monkey nodded again.

Johnny nodded knowingly. "I couldn't agree with you more. Well I could." He said before posing again. "But that's not important right now. But why did you chase the others?"

The monkey shrugged. "Uu! Uu!"

"Well, I guess it WOULD be fun." He said before posing again. "Well I'm going now. See you later." He said before going in the cave.

**-Inside the caves-**

Johnny casually walked in the cave as the group stared at him.

Mary, Cliff, and Carl were speechless at what Johnny was able to do, speak with monkeys. But Basil whipped out his pen and notebook. "Fascinating!" He said as he scribbled down his notes. "Johnny really CAN communicate with primates! Today is already BOOMING with new discoveries!" He said happily as he jotted the notes down. 

Carl handed Johnny a shovel. "Well let's start exploring."

So the group digs and finds various metals and ores. After about a few floors, they take a rest, and sit down to show what they excavated.

"So what did everybody discover?" Basil asked as he held out a tablet. "I discovered a ketchup recipe."

"I found some adamantine. Now I can make robots with super metal!" Carl enthused as he waved his trophy.

"I found a power berry." Cliff said as he showed his prize.

Mary looked at her item. "I found a mystrile."

"All I found was this rock." Johnny said as he held out an Orihalcum"

"You actually found an Orihalcum!" Basil said in surprise. "Do you realize that you can make gifts for girls with those?"

"Really?" Johnny said before holding it out to Mary. "Here, for you."

Carl laughed at this. "Silly Johnny! You have to give it to Saibara first. Then HE'LL make it into a present for a girl."

"Cool!" Johnny enthused as he shoved the stone to his pocket. "Let's find more!"

"In a moment, Johnny, in a moment." Basil said before turning to Cliff. "You're very lucky in order to find such a rare berry. You should eat it right away."

It apparently wasn't a big berry, since Cliff was able to take it in one bite. "It's a little bitter." He said after swallowing it. "What does it do?"

"Poisons you."

****

"Hahaha!" Basil laughed heartily. "I'm kidding! Actually it gives you longer lasting stamina. Perfect for work, travel and…" He stopped to nudge Cliff. "…A good impression for the ladies."

"W-what was that last part?"

Basil laughed again. "I'm just messing with you...although it IS true."

Cliff blushed again. "H-Hey!"

But before Cliff could get another word out, Johnny groaned out in a bored tone, "Can we go now?"

Basil nodded. "Sure thing."

The group grabbed their tools again. "Well it's excavation time again!" Carl piped as they started their digging again.

In a few hours, they've found a number of valuable items. The items were stored in their bags and pockets. They've also been going lower and lower down the mine. They eventually reached the bottom where that small lake in the next room was inside.

They were all amazed. "Wow!" Carl exclaimed as he looked at the room. "I never even knew that this was here!"

"You and me both!" Basil said as he rapidly took down notes.

Mary said nothing as she took out her camera. The room was pretty wondrous. "This would be make good photos." She said as she focused her camera on a part of the room. But when she took the picture, Johnny posed and got in the scenery. Mary was miffed and just turned around to snapped another picture. But then Johnny got in it too…

"Stop doing that!" Mary said as she snapped another picture with Johnny on it.

Johnny quickly zipped beside her. "Now you have something to remember me by." He said with a pose. "Pretty pictures of me."

Mary quickly scooted behind her dad again as Cliff ushered them towards the cave. "Well let's go inside."

The group followed and went into the unknown room. Inside, they saw a large lake in the middle of the room. Why there was an underground lake was another mystery to them.

Basil excitedly scribbled on his notebook. "This just keeps getting better and better!"

Mary continued with her picture taking. "This'll make a great report."

Carl walked over to the lake and pulled out his fishing pole. "I wonder if there are fish in here."

Johnny was already by the lake. He was looking at his reflection. _I wonder how deep it goes. _He posed. "I can see myself clearly! Look at my masculinity! Man I'm pretty!" The buffoon then suddenly stopped posing. _There's something familiar about this place..._

He went to deep thought. _I know! I must have been here and forgot about it!_ _Wait, no._ _That was that other cave._ He thought as he suddenly posed. _I KNOW that it had to do with something that monkey said! But what?  
_  
Mary was watching Johnny. She quickly went over to Carl. "Your friend is acting weird again." She whispered to him.

Carl was still fishing as he looked at Johnny. "He's probably thinking about girls again. Perhaps this place reminds him of the Harvest Goddess or something."

Johnny suddenly thrust his pointer finger in the air in triumph. "I got it!" He said excitedly. "I forgot my decoder ring at home!"

…

_WHAT?_

Johnny ignored their stares and looked at the water. "I wonder if I can reach the goddess from here." He said before taking out a turnip from his pockets and dropping it in.

The group just watched as the turnip sank in the water. A second later, a slight earthquake shakes up the place. In a sudden flash of light, the Harvest Goddess appeared. She was in more homely clothing, and she was anything but happy.

She glowered at the group. "Who dares disturb my private living quarters!" She roared as she clenched her fist at them. "Well? Any takers!"

The group was terrified as they all pointed to Johnny. The nitwit just grinned.

The goddess slapped her head. "Why did I even ask?"

Johnny rushed over to her. "Hey pretty ma-!"

**SPLASH!**

He was cut short when fell in the water. He was so excited that he didn't notice that the goddess was floating over the water.

"**JOHNNY!" **The goddess screamed before Johnny grabbed a part of he dress, dragging her with him.

**SPLASH!**

Everyone stared in shock.

A second later, the goddess stuck half of her body out of the water. She was soaking wet as she clenched her teeth in annoyance. She shot a death glare at Johnny, who also had half of his body out of the water. "You idiot!" She roared. "Can't you give me a moment's peace! How did you find this place anyways!"

"Your hair's a mess." He said as he looked at the goddess' messy hair. "Want to use some of my gel?"

"**ANSWER MY QUESTION!"**

Johnny pointed at Carl. "He did it!"

The goddess shot her angry glare at Carl in response.

Carl laughed nervously. "My dearest condolences," He started. "I had no knowledge that your actual domicile was subliminally residing within this facility."

The deity looked at him strangely. "What?"

"He means that he didn't know you lived here." Mary explained. She then turned to Carl. "Next time, use "normal" vocabulary."

"Sorry."

Johnny placed his hand on the deity's shoulder. "You're pretty. I'm pretty." He said with a pose. "Want to go out?"

The goddess raised her pointing finger in the air. "How many ores did you find while you were down here?" He asked the group as vermillion sparks surrounded her finger.

Mary was starting to get scared of the upcoming attack, but she quickly replied, "All together, approximately thirty adamantines, twenty five orihalcums, forty three mystriles, five recipe tablets, and one power berry."

The goddess nodded. "Good. That should last you for the remainder of the winter season." She said as she turned to Carl. "How much longer until Johnny is gone?"

"Precisely towards the middle of spring."

"Good." She said with another nod. "Winter is the time of my vacation, so I'm going to have to seal the entrance to this place until spring. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Basil sighed as he ushered the group, except for Johnny, out. "Oh well, it was good while it lasted. At least I have a lot of research now."

"See you in the springtime." Mary said as she quickly snapped a picture of the goddess before going out the opening." Finally! I've seen the goddess with my own eyes!" She said happily.

"Goodbye."

"Have a nice vacation."

"Please forgive our rudeness."

After they've gone, Johnny looked at the goddess, whom he still had his arm draped on. "Now that they're gone, perhaps we can get to know each other better?

The goddess glared.

**-Outside-**

**BOOOM!**

Everyone had exited the cave and they looked up when they heard the explosion.

"AAAAH!" Johnny screamed as he flew out of the cave with great force.

**THUD!**

The others helped him up. He was completely singed.

"Oh yeah," He said as he stood up and dusted himself. "She wants me."

"You are insane!" Mary shouted at him. "What were you thinking!"

"Thinking is not his strong point." Carl answered.

"Ee! Ee!"

The group froze when they heard that.

Johnny pointed to the monkeys. "Look! The monkeys are here to greet us!"

The group didn't have to be told twice. "RUN!" They said in unison before fleeing.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asked as he watched them go.

"Uu! Uu!" The monkey leader said as he tapped his back.

"Yeah?" Johnny said as he turned to the simian.

"Uu! Uu! Uu?"

"Aw, it didn't go so well. Not like I hoped anyways."

"Uu! Uu!"

"Really?" Johnny said with a pose. "She DOES want me. She's just playing hard to get."

The monkey and his fellow s looked at him strangely. "Ee, ee ee."

"Popuri? What makes you say that?"

"Ee, ee!"

"A hunch? Wiggy." He said with another pose.

"Ee ee?"

"I don't know. She doesn't seem to show any sign of emotion."

The monkey raised his brow. "Ee ee ee?

Johnny scratched his head. "Uh… I think momma DID drop me on the head a couple times. Why do you ask?"

"Uu. Ee ee ee uu?" The monkey said as he and the others slapped their heads.

"You're right! I DO have better things to do! I got to go see if there are any more available chicks!" He said as he started to run off. "Take care!"

The monkeys watched him go in silence.

_I wonder if he understood what I was hinting at. If all humans are as dense as him, that theory of humans coming from us better not be true!_


	13. Chapter 13

**RWT: **Chapter 13…I own nothing.

"Cluck! Cluck!"

"Here you go." Popuri said as she fed the chickens. She spread some more to the side and wiped her brow. "Ah, all done." She said as the chickens clucked happily in response.

She smiled as she walked over to the house, turned the knob and went inside.

"Ooh…" She heard Johnny say.

"What are you doing?" She asked the nitwit.

"I'm watching the fireplace." Johnny replied without turning to her. "Rick says that something will happen if I watch it long enough."

The pink haired girl giggled. "The only thing that's going to happen is that it's going to burn out." She said before turning to her mother. "Why did you let him do that?"

Lilia was sweeping the floor. "Well he was quiet." She replied simply. "And that pretty much allowed me to get the household chores done." She said before frowning. "Which I shouldn't be doing under my condition. Why can't you and Rick ever help out?"

"I told you before, mom. I have allergies."

"Yeah, allergic to work!"

Popuri frowned. "I don't have to take this!" She said as she crossed her arms and whipped around. "I'm leaving!" She said before marching out the door.

After watching her slam the door, Lilia sighed. "That girl is going to have to learn responsibility one of these days." She said to herself. She then looked at Johnny. "You and Popuri are equally lazy, you know that?"

Johnny didn't hear her as he was still watching the fire when a bug suddenly got too close to it.

**Zzt!**

"I think I saw a spark! No, wait. That's just a bug."

Lilia just went back to her sweeping. "Not that you're listening." She said with another sigh.

_No one ever does._

Out of the blue, she suddenly said out, "Popuri is most likely headed to the dog race festival. My husband went out searching for my cure again and I have no one to help take me there. I would ask Rick, but he's about as athletic as Jeff."

Johnny turned to Lilia. "There's a monkey race today?"

"No, I said a dog race."

"Right. What'd I say?" He asked with a pose.

"I can take you if you want. All you have to do is carry me there."

Johnny quickly rushed over to her. "Deal! He said before scooping her up and proceeded to dash over to the square.

_That was easier than I thought._

**-Town Square-**

Many people were in the square already, waiting excitedly for the race to start. Many 0f the audience was taking as they waited.

Jack, Karen and Popuri were also chatting. "So how is it with Johnny around the house?" Karen asked her friend.

"Oh, he's pretty well behaved." Popuri answered. "Mom says he's as lazy as Rick and I." She added with a frown. "But I'm not lazy!"

"Well…" Karen shrugged before turning to Jack. "Isn't your dog entering the race?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, Mayor Thomas already took him to the track." He answered as he looked at his watch. "Which reminds me, it's going to start soon. I'll help you guys find good seats."

"Okay, let's-"

"Popuri!"

The trio turned their heads and saw Lilia on Johnny's arms.

"Mom?" Popuri said as she ran up to them. "Why is Johnny carrying you?"

"I wanted to watch the race." She answered as Johnny set her down on a good seat. "Thank you Johnny."

"No problem."

Lilia sighed. "If only Rick were stronger."

Rick, who was sitting at the third row, heard her and spat out his drink in disbelief. "Hey! Mom! Not in front of my friends!" He said in embarrassment.

Some of his seatmates giggled.

"Agh…"

Jeff, who was sitting beside him, patted him on the back. "It's all right, Rick. I'm not very strong either yet I still got married." He said as he smiled as he smiled to his wife, who was also beside him.

Sasha nodded. "At first I didn't like him, but I grew to love his cute ways. That's why I married him."

"Thanks, I was first intimidated by your aggressiveness. But I overcame that and grew to love the lovely woman within."

His wife grinned. "You're lucky you threw in that last part. You don't want another stomachache like before now, do you?"

Jeff's smile turned uneasy as he clutched his stomach. "You bet I don't."

Jack looked at them strangely before turning to HIS wife. "Your mom's the violent type?" He whispered.

"I know she doesn't look it, but she's actually pretty strong." She answered in the same volume. "Want to see?"

"Sure."

"Okay, watch this." She said as she turned to her mom. "Mom? Are you strong enough to lift Johnny?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well Jack and I wanted to see."

Sasha shrugged. "Well why not?" She said as she got up from her seat and walked over to Johnny, who was stuffing himself with popcorn. "Can I lift you for a minute?" She asked him.

Johnny stopped stuffing himself and turned to her. "Are you hitting on me?" He said with a smile as he struck a pose. "I can't blame you."

"No, I just want to-"

Johnny struck a couple of poses. "If you weren't married, I'd go out with you." He said as he made more poses. "Unless of course you're tired of your husband…"

Sasha was getting irritated. "Of course not! I just want to-"

"Or perhaps you have another daughter." He said with much excitement. 'Show her to me!" He demanded as she shot a finger at her.

"Idiot! Let me finish!"

"No need for modesty. All chicks are infatuated with Johnny."

"Here it comes..." Karen whispered to Jack.

Sasha was burning with rage as she grabbed Johnny and lifted him above her head. "I hope you two are watching!" She roared before hurling Johnny behind the seats.

**THUD!**

"Learn to be more polite next time!" She added angrily before going back to her seat.

Jack was stunned. "Wow, I guess."

"Whoa…" Johnny said as he picked himself up. "I don't know what just went on." He said a he tried to remember, when he saw a gold coin innocently rolling by. "Ooh! Mine!" He said as he ran after it.

"Okay, in ten…nine…" The mayor said through the megaphone. The race was about to start.

"W-what?!" Jack said, completely forgetting the race. "Oh no!" He cried before rushing towards the starting line. Unfortunately for him…

"Wait for me! You shiny little thing!" Johnny cried after the gold coin. The gold coin kept rolling on, until it stopped…at the middle of Jack's path.

Johnny lunged after it and held it tight. "Aha! I got-"

"JOHNNY!!! NO!!!" Jack cried as he tried to stop himself. Unfortunately, his momentum was too great and Johnny was too near for him to not to be sent flying when he hit and tripped against Johnny, who was crouching at that time.

"Aah!"

"Help!"

The villagers screamed as they tried to get away from Jack's "to-be-landing area"-The audience's seats.

"Look out!"

Everything seemed to have gone slow motion for Karen. "JACK!"

**CRASH!**

"No!" Karen screamed as she rushed over to the injured Jack. Elli, the Doctor and others rushed to the farmer as well.

Karen was the first one to reach her bloodied husband's side. "Jack! Are you okay?!" She cried out to him. "Please! Wake up!"

"Elli, get his pulse!"

"Yes doctor!"

"Jack…"

"He's going to be fine, Karen." The doctor reassured her as he got out some bandages. "I need a stretcher, stat!"

The sprites, who were at the side, saluted. "Aye! Aye! Budum!" They said before rushing off to get one.

Everyone else stared at Johnny.

"Uh…He did it!" Johnny said as he pointed at Jeff.

Popuri was covering her mouth as she looked at how the people were glaring at Johnny. _Oh no! Now everyone is going to hate him…even more!…Unless!_

Popuri wasted no more time as she rushed over to Johnny and whispered something to his ear.

Johnny raised a brow. "Take over for Jack?" He asked aloud.

Unknowingly, the mayor heard it. "That's a great idea!"

_Well if someone as intelligent as the mayor thinks it's a great idea, it must be! _

"I'll do it!"

Popuri grinned and pumped up a fist. "Way to go, Johnny!"

Johnny quickly turned to her looked into her eyes. _Cool! I can see myself in her eyes. Man I'm pretty!  
_  
Popuri blushed when she noticed that she was staring at her.

Johnny was confused. _Why did her face turn red all of a sudden? Is she sick? No, that couldn't be it. Does she dig me? No, all chicks dig me. Then what could it be?_

_Why is he staring at me like that? Does he like me? Do I have something on my face?_ Popuri thought as she used Johnny's glasses as a mirror. _No, I don't see anything. Speaking of which, why is it that he doesn't hit on me as much? Is it because I'm not as attractive as the other girls? I hope not. _She thought as her face fell a bit._  
_  
_Why the sudden change of expression on her face…Wait a minute! She DOES dig me! A whole lot! Only one way to be sure._

And with that, Johnny grabbed and dipped her.

Popuri is REALLY looking more of a tomato now in color.

Johnny grinned. "It must be great being you, looking at me looking at me." He said as he let her go. "So what do you say? Want to hang out with a manly man like me? He asked before shielding himself with his arms. "Don't hit me!"

Popuri gulped. "No one's ever asked me that before."

Johnny put his arms down. "So you're not going to hit me?"

"No, I would never dream of it!"

Johnny posed. "So what now? The only other chicks that didn't hit me were either not human or ones that wanted to kill me." He said as he continued to flex. "One was a werewolf and the other was a secret agent. She really dug me. But I never saw her again."

"Really? That's sad. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Aw, it's all right. Momma had a surprise party waiting for me. With cake, ice cream, and everything!' He finished with a toothy grin.

Popuri giggled. "I love your sense of humor."

"Want to see me eat ten hot dogs at once?"

"Uh…Scratch that. I love MOST of your humor."

The two were about to continue chatting when the mayor got his megaphone out again. "Hello?! We need to get this dog race started! I don't mean to be rude or anything, but we're wasting time here!"

"OH! You're right! I got to go!" Johnny said before rushing to the stage.

Popuri watched Johnny go before she noticed that someone was staring at her. She pun around and saw that it was Aqua. The elf was looking at her with much amusement.

"What?"

"You actually like him, budum?"

She blushed. "No!" Popuri said defensively. "Of course not! Whatever gave you THAT idea? And aren't you supposed to be with Jack?"

"We got him covered, he'll be fine, budum." The elf said as he pointed to the side. Popuri looked to that direction and saw Jack being carried away on a stretcher by the sprites. The doctor and Elli were following close behind while Karen was walking beside the stretcher.

Karen was holding Jack's hand. Jack was hurt badly but he's awake now. Aqua scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well yeah, budum, I guess the idea's a bit off. But still, you sure don't act like the other girls when you're around him."

"S-Stop teasing me already!"

"Okay!" The mayor hollered. "The race is now beginning! Please take your seats!"

The people quickly returned to their seats as the gunshot that signals the start of the show went off.

"All right, mutt! Let's go!" Johnny said as he and the other owners started to run.

Unfortunately, the curse quickly kicked in and well…

"Arf! Arf!"

"Grr!"

"Bark! Bark!"

"What the?" Johnny said as he heard the angry barks. He quickly turned around and… "Oh mama!"

"Arf! Arf!"

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Johnny quickly ran around the track with the dogs after him. After three laps…

"And the winner is Kite!" For Kite was on the lead on chasing Johnny. But of course, the dogs didn't care for the race even from the very beginning due to the course so they all still kept running, even after the audience lost interest and left.

**-Next Day-**

"How're you feeling, Jack?"

Jack was lying down on the bed. "Well…" Jack started as he looked at his bandages. "Not so hot."

Karen went over to him with a cup of hot coffee. "Well at least it's winter so you don't have to work in the fields."

"I guess…"

"You got mail!" Zack shouted from outside.

"Oh let me get that." Karen said as she went outside.

"Here you go!" Zack said cheerfully as he handed her a letter. "How's Jack?"

Karen took it and opened it. "Not so hot," She answered. "But it wasn't as bad as we first thought. He's allowed to walk around and the injuries may be gone in a week."

"Well that's good to hear." Zack said. "Anyway, have to go, later." He said before leaving.

"Later then." Karen said before getting in the house with the letter.

Jack sat up. "Who's it from?"

"Well…" Karen said before reading it aloud.

_Dear Jack and Karen, _

_Cliff and I are planning a surprise birthday party for my father. I would really appreciate it if you came. We could really use the extra hands. Sorry to bother you, but I want this to be a great party for him. So, from one friend to another, please help us. _

_Signed, Ann_

_  
_Karen shrugged as she put the letter away. "I don't see why we can't help her. After all, she and Cliff helped US with the other birthday parties." She said as she turned to Jack. "But…"

Jack grinned. "Hey, I'm fine. I can still walk and the doctor said that it's not bad for me to be walking around."

"Alright then."

**-Poultry Farm-**

_Dear Popuri, Rick and Lilia, _

_Cliff and I are going to throw a surprise party for my father. We would like you to attend it at 5pm. You can help us out if you want but the only thing we ask in return is that Popuri keep Johnny busy while we make preparations. That idiot could ruin everything! Please keep him distracted, please?_

_Sincerely, Ann  
_  
Rick scratched his head as his sister put the letter down. "I can see why, but why didn't she ask Carl to do it?"

Popuri shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's for a good reason."

"Well, I'm going to find out." Rick fumed as he headed for the door. "I'll see you later." He said before closing it after him.

This shouldn't bee too hard. I could take him to Mothers' hill, the wilderness, and the hot springs. It's just too bad he doesn't wake up until 10am.

**-Little Later in the Inn-**

"Hmmm…I guess Doug needs a distraction too."

Ann nodded. "Yup, we're kind of short of hands so I let Carl out to distract him. Speaking of which, are you here to help us set up too?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Thanks for volunteering. Jack and Karen should be here any moment now, too."

"And here we are." They heard the aforementioned people say from behind.

"Harvest Sprites all ready for duty too, budum!"

Ann got up from her seat excitedly. "Thanks a lot for helping out." She said as turned around.

"No problem, budum!" The sprites excitedly said in unison before scattering to help.

Ann shot Jack a worried look. "Are you okay with this? You didn't have to come, even if my letter said so…"

Jack shook his head. "It's alright. I'm okay and you don't have to give me the heavy chores."

"Okay, well if that's what you want."

**-11am: Mother's Hill-**

"Isn't this great, Johnny? We have a whole afternoon to goof off."

Johnny and Popuri were at the summit of the hill. Johnny scanned the town. "Hey, what's that green short guy doing running around the place?"

Popuri looked at what he's looking at and saw Timid with a sack of flour over his head. "Well, you know how the Harvest Sprites are; busy like bees."

Johnny yawned. "So why are we up here? I'm bored."

"It's not boring, Johnny. In fact, there are a lot of fun things to do when looking over a cliff."

Johnny posed. "Like what? I tried falling but that wasn't any fun."

"Well like looking at sunrises and sunsets, picking flowers, watching the sky, and listening to echoes."

Johnny raised a brow. "Echoes? What are those?"

"Listen." She instructed before clearing her throat. "Hello!"

Hello!

"How are you?"

How are you?

"I'm fine!"

I'm fine!

"Cool!" Johnny said excitedly. "Let me try!" He said as he cleared his throat. "Hello?"

**Hello? **

"Where are you?"

**Where are you? **

"Come on out!"

**Come on out! **

Popuri giggled.

All the while though, Johnny hasn't figured out that it was his own voice that he was hearing.

"I'm pretty!"

**I'm pretty! **

He frowned at this. "I'm prettier!"

**I'm prettier!**

Now he's getting annoyed. "You're dumb!"

**You're dumb!**

"I know you are but what am I?"

**I know you are but what am I? **

He turned to Popuri. "He's good."

Popuri was laughing very hard now. "Haha! Oh Johnny,"

"What's so funny?"

Popuri clutched her sides. "Haha, like I said before, I love your humor."

"Okay. Uh what else can we do?"

"Well we could take a nature walk."

Johnny placed his arm over hers. "Okay, lead the way."

Popuri smiled a bit. "Okay." She said as they both walked together. They went down from the summit, crossed the bridge and passed the lake. Their stroll took some hours and soon enough, they were both tired and decided to rest at the springs.

"There's nothing like a nice dip in the hot springs to ease ones tired legs." Popuri said as they approached the springs.

Johnny flexed. "I know what you mean. My feet hurt!"

Popuri went over to the dressing room. "I'll be right back. Wait right here."

"Okay, I'll go on ahead then." Johnny said as he magically changed his clothes to a pair of blue trunks. He then jumped in to the springs.

**-A Bit Later-**

"Ee, ee"

Popuri opened her eyes. "What was that?"

Johnny was dog paddling. "What was what?" He said as he stopped.

Popuri looked around. "I swear I heard something…"

"Must be your imagination." Johnny said as he resumed paddling around.

…

"J-Johnny? What do you think about me?"

Johnny stopped paddling again. "Hmm? I think you're a very fine chick, and you're nice." He said with a pose. "What about you? You think the same thing about me?"

Popuri blushed. "Well yes, I didn't think so at first, but after getting to know you better, and my brother chasing Kai out of town...well, you know."

"Know what?"

Popuri stood up. "Well, that is to say...I really like-"

"Ee! Ee! Ee!"

Popuri's eyes widened. "Oh no! The monkeys!" She screamed before turning around to see the group of simians.

"Ee! Ee!" The monkeys said as they moved closer to the two.

Popuri quickly backed away. "Do something, Johnny!"

"Okay," Johnny said as he got out of the springs and magically changed to his normal clothes. He then went towards the monkey leader. "So what brings you here?"

"Uu! Uu! Ee!"

"Relaxing with your wife?" Johnny asked as he pointed to the monkey that was beside the leader. "Her?"

The monkey nodded.

Johnny turned to Popuri, who was still in the spring. "Its okay! He's just relaxing with his monkey queen!"

"Will they bite?'

"I don't know.'" Johnny said as he turned back to the monkey. "Do you guys bite?"

"Uu! Ee! Uu!"

"Only if you get them mad." He told Popuri. "You can come out."

Popuri came out of the springs but she quickly hid behind Johnny. "Then why did he chase me and Karen?"

"Uu! Ee!"

"He says that he loves pranks."

"Ee! Ee! Uu?"

"I'm not sure. Let me ask." Johnny said as he turned back to Popuri. "He asks if we're going out."

"Well not officially. This is just a friendly outing." Popuri said as she wrapped herself with a towel.

"Uu! Ee! Uu!"

"What did he say?"

"He said that your face tells a different story, whatever that means."

"Uu! Uu?"

"What time is it?"

"It's about eleven thirty am. Why does it want to know?"

"Ee! Ee! Uu?

"Ohh! Johnny said as he posed. "He says that Gotz is going to drive them out of the forest once and for all at four if they don't stop pulling pranks on people."

Popuri frowned. "Then why don't they just stop?"

"Ee! Ee!"

"He says that he doesn't want to."

"Then they deserve it!"

The monkey queen perked her ears and started talking to her husband.

"What are they saying?"

"Uh oh, you made them mad. We better get out of here!" Johnny said before running off to the farm.

"W-What? H-Hey!" Popuri said as she ran after him.

"Uu! Ee! UU!" The monkeys screeched as they ran after them.

**- Inn: Early Evening- **

"Ann, they're still not here." Rick said as he tapped on the table impatiently.

Ann was watching the Sprites do the final touches on the decorations. "Oh stop worrying! They'll be here!"

"The fact that-"

**KNOCK! KNOCK! **

"We're here!" Popuri's voice rang out from outside.

"See?" Ann said before rushing to open the door. 'Hey, you finally-whoa, what happened?" She asked when she took a good look at the pair. Both Popuri and Johnny were covered with scratches. Actually Johnny had more scratches and he had a number of beestings too.

Rick jumped from his seat. "Popuri! What happened?"

Popuri rubbed one of the scratches on her face. "Monkeys, bees long story."

Rick then turned to Johnny. "What did you-"

"So then I finally discovered that the…"

Rick, Ann and Popuri froze. "They're here!" Ann cried as she ran for the counter. "Everyone, hide!"

Rick quickly closed the door, flipped off the lights and hid. Everyone hid as well except for Johnny who had to be dragged by Jack.

The door creaked open and both Doug and Carl came to view. Doug looked irritated as he flipped on the switch. "Carl, I've heard enough of-"

"SURPRISE!"

"What-"

Ann quickly jumped from behind the counter and neck-hugged her dad. "Happy birthday!" She said as the other people circled around Doug.

"You guys shouldn't have. I haven't had a surprise birthday party in ages! Thank you!" The innkeeper said with a grin as the crowd led him to the cake.


	14. Chapter 14

**RWT: **Y'know, I don't own anything and after reading this chapter, you may finally know where I get some of my inspiration for some of my stories.

**-Winter 14th: 6 AM-**

A sleepy farmer walked in the kitchen after smelling something cooking. "What's going on?" He asked groggily.

His wife, Karen, was inside the kitchen. She happily held out a slice of chocolate cake to him. "Happy Thanksgiving, Jack. I made it myself. I hope you like it."

Jack's eyes widened a bit. Karen plus cooking equals…Well the doctor did note that he could take emergency cases in holidays.

"Well?"

Jack smiled nervously. "Uh…Yeah…" He said before taking the slice and eating. He chewed nervously and then noticed that it didn't taste like anything unmentionable to eat. "Hey, it tastes pretty good." He said as he swallowed with ease. "Thanks."

Karen smiled. "Anytime."

Jack grinned. "Hey after freshening up, want to do something today? I can take the day off."

Karen nodded. "Sure. Let's go to the hot springs. I'll just put the cake in the fridge."

**-Mother's Hill: Same Time-**

"Gray?"

The blacksmith turned around. "Yes, Mary?" He asked the librarian.

They were standing on the peak of Mother's Hill, looking over the horizon.

Mary nervously fidgeted. "I …um...have something to give you." She said quickly as she shakily brought out a chocolate cake. "I hope it's to your liking."

Gray flashed a rare smile. "Anything you make is to my liking." He said as he accepted her gift gratefully.

Mary smiled happily in response.

**-Inn-**

"What's wrong, Ann? Why did you suddenly dragged me here?" Cliff asked when Ann suddenly grabbed him by the collar and dragged him in to the kitchen.

"Well it's just that I really like you...and…I'm not really good at this..." She answered with a nervous blush.

Cliff scratched his head nervously. "Well to tell the truth, I have something for you. I hope it's not too forward." He said as he suddenly hands her a box of chocolates. "It's something that our town usually gives to the ones they admire."

Ann blushed in surprise at his gesture. "Th-thank you." She said as she took it.

"You're welcome." He said with a quiet smile.

…

Ann looked at the box of chocolates as she shot stolen glances at the chocolate cake sitting on the counter. "Um, Cliff?"

"Yeah?"

"Actually, what you just gave me...is sort of a tradition of what the girls do for the guys." She said as she went over to the counter. "Here," She said as she took the cake and gave it to Cliff. "I made it myself."

"Whoa, thank you, Ann. It looks delicious." He said as he took it. A though suddenly hit him as he looked at the cake. "Did I accidentally break your tradition?"

The redhead shook her head. "No, nothing like that. In fact, I really liked your kind gesture."

"Then we should do this every year."

"Yeah, that'd be great." She said as they went out of the kitchen hand in hand and with smiles on their faces. They then noticed that Doug was looking at them with a grand smile. It was as if he's saying, "Yes! Grandkids!"

The two quickly separated and returned to their morning cleaning duties. A little later, the bar opened, and in came several customers.

The burly woodcutter, Gotz, approached the counter. "The usual, please."

Doug nodded. "Sure thing."

Harris seemed real happy as he took a seat. "Howdy, Cliff!" He called out to Cliff.

Cliff waved in return. "Hi, what brightens your mood today?"

Harris quickly took out an opened letter from his pocket. "I received a love letter from Aja, that racing girl!" He said excitedly. I sent her some imported chocolates as a friendly gesture. Then yesterday, she sent a response to it. She said I was charming."

Cliff smiled. "Congratulations! I'm very happy for you." Cliff said as he gave him a thumbs up.

Now on the other side of the room, the mayor was talking to Kano. Unbeknownst to them, Won was listening from the shadows. "Aren't dating anyone at all? I'm pretty sure you're eligible enough to be married." The mayor told the photographer.

"I told you, sir. I love taking pictures. Dating can wait." The photographer said as he stirred his drink.

"But don't you have ANY interest in a love life?"

"Just one." He replied. "But I am afraid that I may be a little out of her league."

"How so?"

"Let's just say that she's a bit too much for a small person like me." Kano said with a sigh.

The Mayor shrugged. "Oh well it's your loss." He said as he took his drink and drank it.

The Inn doors opened again, and in came an agitated Rick. Rick marched towards the counter with much annoyance and took a seat. "The usual, please."

"Coming right up." Doug answered as he went to prepare his order.

Carl approached him. "What's wrong?"

"It's Popuri." He answered. "She's overreacting if you ask me. She just spent all night making various pastries so she can give them to Johnny. I couldn't even have one!"

Carl shrugged. "Well that's life, Rick. Besides, I think it's cute." He said as he looked at his watch. He didn't see Rick twitch his brow. "Uh-oh! I'm late! I have more research on this world to do!" He said before rushing out.

**-Winery: 8 am-**

**SLAM!**

"Manna!" Duke cried out as the door slammed at his face. "Open the door! I was only joking!"

"No!" Came the angry muffled voice of his wife.

As the old man made a scene, Elli walked by with a basket of food.

"What's wrong?" The nurse asked.

Duke turned around. "Oh hi, Elli. What's in the bag?" He asked curiously as he pointed at Elli's bag. 

"Oh, nothing much." She answered. "Just some assorted healthy treats for the doctor. He doesn't want any cavities. Want one?"

"Um, I'll pass."

"Did you and Manna get into a fight again?"

"All I did was say that the chocolates tasted stale!" He reasoned. "I didn't mean to upset her, again! After all, I was only teasing her!"

"Well perhaps Manna didn't find it funny."

"**I** know that!"

"Well…I have to go now." She said as she started to walk away.

"Wait! You have to help me!" Duke called after her.

Elli shook her head as she kept walking. "Sorry, but I'm very late already. Why don't you ask Johnny?" 

Duke didn't like the idea. "Well since I'm desperate..."

-**Farm: 8:30-**

"Hey, Johnny!" Duke called out as he was running towards the farm.

"Yeah?" The blond asked as he turned around.

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Depends," He replied with a pose. "Do I have to do anything that isn't fun?"

"Um...no?"

"All right then. What is it?"

"I want you to tlak to Manna." Duke said. "I made her angry by telling her chocolates were stale."

"Ohhh. Why don't you just say you liked it?" He asked with a pose. "Pretend it's something really good. Her grape juice tasted bitter once, but it made my head feel all light and tingly."

"Johnny, that wasn't grape juice. That was wine."

"Oh." He said with a shrug. "Oh well, I still had fun!"

"So can you help me? All you have to do is talk to Manna."

"Sure." He said before waving off.

Duke watched him go. _I hope I didn't make a grave mistake…_

_  
_**-Winery: 9 AM-  
**  
Johnny let himself in and saw Manna washing the dishes. "Oh, hey Manna. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"As long as it isn't about Duke!"

"Never mind then."

Manna sighed as she wiped her hands with a towel. "Did he send you here to talk me into forgiving him?"

"Cool! How did you know?"

Manna angrily crossed her arms. "It's just like Duke to go and have somebody else to do his dirty work! Why couldn't he just try again? He knows I would listen to him! It's laziness, I tell you! Pure laziness! It reminds me of this time he..."

As she went on, Johnny stopped listening. He then regretted coming inside. But then, he saw Popuri outside and quickly dashed out to talk to her. In a moment, Manna noticed that she was alone.

"If only he had a longer attention span." She said with a sigh. "Come to think of it, the only ones who stay long enough for me to finish talking are Jack, Cliff, and Duke. Now that I think about it, maybe I WAS a bit too hard on him."

"That idiot!" She suddenly heard her husband say. "I ask him to do one simple thing, and he doesn't even finish it!" he said before approaching Manna. His features softened."Manna, I'm sorry for what I said. Please forgive me. To tell you the truth, I literally can't live without you. Now I wouldn't normally say this, but I'm desperate! I'll do anything to make it up! Just name it!"

Manna's eyes watered in happiness. "Duke...that was the nicest thing you have ever said to me!" she said as she hugged him. "Apology accepted!"

"T-Thank you!"

**-Farm: 9:10 AM-**

Johnny finally caught up to Popuri. "Hey there, what's in the bag?"

"Something for you." She said with a smile. "Want to have a picnic with me in the farm? If it's okay?"

"You bet!" Johnny said as she grabbed the picnic stuff and set everything in less then ten seconds.

Later on, they were happily eating and chatting. As they ate and talked, they didn't notice Jack and Karen come home. Karen's eyes flashed in mischief as she quickly and quietly dragged Jack to a bush that grew conveniently behind the couple.

"Johnny? I had a wonderful time." Popuri said as she ate the last of her sandwich. 

"Me too." Johnny agreed as he smacked his lips. "The food was great."

…

"Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I perhaps, see your eyes? You know, without the sunglasses." 

"Why?"

"I don't know." She replied with a slight blush on her face. "I just want to see what they look like."

"Well I don't really want to, but okay." He said as he placed his hand on the glasses. He was about to remove them when he noticed Karen and Jack standing near them.

"Oh. Hi guys. Had fun?" He asked as his hands went back to the sides. 

"Yeah." Karen said with a grin. "And by the looks of things, so did you."

Popuri frowned while she blushed. "How long were you there?"

"Oh, long enough."

Jack smiled uneasily. "Alright now, Karen. She's embarrassed enough as it is."

His wife just chuckled in response.

Popuri quickly took the empty basket. "Well, I have to go now. Next time again." She said before waving off.

The trio waved back to her before going in the house to spend time with the TV.

**-Springs: 10PM-**

The photographer, Kano, quietly approached the springs. He looked around, making sure that he wasn't followed. After considering everything to be clear, he pulled out his violin and started to play a sonnet.

A beautiful melody flowed out of the instrument as he played. The small animals hanging around stopped their animal chatter to listen. A few seconds later, a bright light shone on the pond and the Harvest Goddess appeared.

She looked at Kano and smiled. "Finally! A visitor that ISN'T annoying!"

Kano stopped playing to chuckle at that remark. "Hello." He greeted with a bow.

"Kano…Is it not?"

The photographer nodded.

"I've been watching you." She said. "You're the town's photographer and you play that violin quite well. It is nice to finally meet you."

"It is my pleasure."

The goddess thought about her other files about him. "And you know, aside from Jack, you're the only human that has ever interested me. Do you have a love interest?"

"Can you not read my mind?"

"Well… I can but I'd rather have you say it instead."

Kano shuffled uneasily. "Well who I want, you might not want to give."

The deity tilted her head to the side. "Oh? Tell me who it is." She said with interest.

The usually calm gentleman shuffled uneasily the more. "Ah…" He started.

"C'mon, it's not as if I'm going to send you to kingdom come you or anything."

Kano raised his brows. "I will trust those words. For it is none other than…" He gulped nervously before continuing. "…You."

The goddess blinked. "Me?"

Kano nodded bravely. "Yes, I know that you are very much too good for someone like me, but that's what dreams are like. If I could at least take a picture of you, I would be greatly honored."

The goddess smiled warmly. "You're quite the charmer, aren't you? Very well. You may take my picture."

"You have my gratitude." Kano said before snapping numerous pictures of the deity.

After a while, Kano put his camera away and gave a low bow.

"I thank you so much for your time. I shall now develop these quickly." He said as he turned around to leave.

"Wait."

Kano turned back to her. "What is it?"

"Well I'm feeling generous, not to mention a little left out. So do you want to come inside my home?" She offered while holding out an elegant hand. "I can easily develop the pictures there. Besides, I'd like to talk to you more."

Kano bowed again. "It would be my greatest pleasure." He replied before walking towards the pool.

A bright light suddenly engulfs the two and they disappear. Seconds later, the pond became frozen again. When everything was quiet again, Won stepped out of the shadows. He had a video camera in hand. "I KNEW eavesdropping would pay off! Who would've thought something like this? Oh well, I wonder how much I could sell this tape for-"

**BZZZT!**

"…Or not…" Won said as he stared wide-eyed at the charred camera.

**RWT: **Please review me.


	15. Chapter 15

**RWT: **And here's Chapter 15.

Basil and Anna were talking to Gray and Carl in the Inn . They were discussing some important things.

"It's such a nice winter." Basil started. He was talking to his wife.

"Yes, I'm sure it is. But let's not forget why we came here." Anna said as she looked at their guests, Carl and Gray.

"Ah, yes." Basil said as he looked at Gray. "As you know, today is Mary's birthday and we wanted to have a surprise party planned for her in the library. The trouble is that she hardly leaves the place, and ever since Johnny came around, she never wants to go anywhere alone."

"I can see her concern." Gray said with much agreement.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about Johnny.' Carl said. "Ever since Popuri shown a vast amount of mutual interest in him, I'd say the chances of his intervention are about the same as the Halley's Comet coming 75 years ahead of schedule."

Anna raised her brow. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll take your word for it."

"So basically, you want us to distract Mary?" Gray asked with a small smile. "That won't be a problem."

"Which is why Carl is also going to help you."

Gray's smile turned to a frown. "Oh."

"Not that we don't trust you or anything, but as concerned parents, we have to calm that feeling." Anna explained.

"So will you guys help us?"

"Sure. I'll do it." Gray said with a nod.

"Count me in." Carl said excitedly. "This'll be more fun than trying to find the square root of a right triangle."

Anna stopped herself from raising a brow at Carl. "Good! Then it's settled. Now all I have to do is call Jack so he can call the harvest sprites for extra assistance."

**-Library-**

"Hello, Carl." Mary greeted when Carl and Gray came in. "Hello, Gray." She added with a slight blush. "What brings you here today? Have you come to read a new book?"

"Well actually, we were going to do some, uh..." Gray started to say, thinking of something up.

"Scientific and biological research." Carl piped to his rescue.

"Um, yeah." Gray said, going with it. "Anyways, we were wondering, well **I** was wondering if you could come with us."

"I'd love to, but who will take care of the library?" Mary asked with much concern.

"Already taken care of." Carl replied with a smile.

"Really?" Mary asked. "In that case, I would be delighted to accompany you guys." She said happily before warily looking around. "Just as long as Johnny doesn't come around."

"THAT situation has already been taken care of as well."

Mary smiled at Carl's response. "Then this day is just getting better and better!" She said before they went out of the library.

"How did you manage to keep Johnny from interfering?" Gray asked Carl in a whisper.

"I had him run the library downstairs while everyone started preparing for the party in the secret room that was normally locked." Carl whispered back.

"Are you sure he won't botch everything up?"

"You have a comic book section, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then everything will be fine."

Mary turned to the two. "What are you two whispering about?"

They shook their heads. "Oh, nothing important."

"Oh okay."

"So, anyway, let's head to the harvest sprites home first."

**-Little Sprites' Hut-**

"So tell me again, what this has to do with biological research?"

"Well nothing really." Carl answered Gray as he searched the little house. "I just heard from Johnny that the sprites have some kind of high tech laboratory and I wanted to see for myself." He replied as he looked under the beds. "They would never let me near here but since they're all out helping Jack, I figured that this is as good of a time as any."

"I don't know. This just seems wrong for some reason." Mary said nervously.

"The sooner I can finish my research, the sooner I can take Johnny home."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Gray agreed.

"But what if we get caught?"

Gray smirked. "Then we'll place the entire blame on Carl."

Carl didn't hear the last sentence as he went under Chef's bed. "I know it's around here somewhere…Aha!" He exclaimed happily as he found a big red switch. "I found it!" He enthused as he pressed it.

In less than a second, the floor slowly opened up, revealing a hidden door. The three popped their heads in and were surprised at what they saw. Technology beyond their time filled the room. Carl was starry eyes and was crying in happiness as he looked at all the monitors and machineries.

As the three gaped at all the technology, a sprite in white, a rookie, noticed them and walked over to them. "Hey! Who are you people, budum? I don't remember the boss telling us about having any visitors."

Carl went over to the sprite and whispered something to the elf's ear. The sprite nodded in agreement. "Oh okay, budum." He then look at Carl. "I see, but you DO look familiar, budum…" He added suspiciously.

The little sprite then shrugged it off. "If you do, I'll remember it later. My name's Phil, by the way." He said before going back to his seat.

Carl grinned broadly before scurrying off to do his research.

Mary and Gray, on the other hand, went over to Phil's side and looked at what he's looking. At the sprite's table, there were monitors monitoring some parts of the town. There was the church and some of the houses. But then some of them were actually showing what're happening INSIDE the houses; Phil and the other sprites are spying on people.

Phil noticed them. "Have a seat then, you two." He said as he motioned to two spare seats at his side. "It's like watching a real life sitcom, budum." He said as he went back to the monitors.

Gray and Mary did so but with much uneasiness. They were not the type people to do this, but may be just this once…it does show what's happening in the library and Mary needs to see if everything's okay there.

When she saw Johnny running it, she was at first surprised. But she quickly regained herself since no one seems to be in the library, and Johnny was just sitting there with a comic in hand.

As Mary and Gray watched the library, Phil was eating popcorn as he watched the Doctor talk to Elli when something hit him. He bolted from his seat and pointed at Carl. The geek was having fun studying some computer's CPU. "YOU!" He shouted. "I thought you look familiar!"

Carl was obviously startled. "Huh?"

The little elf grabbed a nearby microphone. "Attention! Attention! The one the boss told us about is in the vicinity, budum! Throw him out as soon as possible! That is all!" He hollered.

"Oh boy…"

Seconds later, a small troop of harvest sprites dressed in soldier uniforms was chasing Carl around the place.

"Help!"

"Get out of here, budum!"

Gray and Mary watched the chase with surprised yet amused faces.

"Hey," Phil suddenly said to them. "You two can stay, though. I've monitored you two, and you're very sweet people."

Gray frowned. "Is that ALL you've been monitoring?

Phil grinned. "Don't worry, budum. We only do that to people we don't like and people who are just too hot to resist." He said as he pointed to a monitor that was showing the goddess. "Like her. I used to spy on Karen, but ever since she got pregnant; it's been sort of a no-go."

Mary frowned too. "You shouldn't do that!"

Phil sighed. "Yeah, I know." The boss has been getting on me about that, budum. But the way I see it, I should quit a little at a time. I don't watch you as much though." He said as he pointed at Gray. "No offense."

"Ahem…" Gray coughed as he tried to change the subject. "Can we see how Johnny's doing?"

"Sure, budum." Phil said as they looked at the monitor that was watching the library.

**-Library-**

"How many books can we borrow?" Little Stu asked Johnny.

The blonde was on the librarian's desk, reading a comic. "Any amount." He replied without looking at him. "Just as long as you leave me alone."

The kid grinned mischievously. "Okay." He said before he and May brought in a wheelbarrow. A while later, the wheelbarrow was quite full, yet the kids were still piling it up. As they continued, Jeff entered the building.

The shopkeeper went over to Johnny. "H-hello?"

"What is it?" Johnny said with much annoyance, still not looking away from his comic.

"I-I'm looking for a certain book."

"Can't you see I'm trying to read?"

"Well yeah, but you're the librarian for the moment so…"

Johnny sighed as he put his comic down. "Oh fine. What book do you need?"

Jeff scratched his head. "Well it's kind of embarrassing to say but…" He whispered the title to Johnny. "Do you have it?"

"Do you think this is a library? Why do you think it will have-"

**-Sprite Base-**

Gray blinked when he heard the title. "Uh…?"

"_Wait, we do have it."_ Johnny said casually.

Gray twitched. "Why is there such a book in the library?"

Mary's face was flushed. "I-I don't know. I never put one there."

Phil grinned sheepishly. "Er…Whoops, I think I put it there for safekeeping, budum."

"What?!"

**-Library-**

Jeff's head was slinking down when Johnny blurted the title out loud. "Please! Not so loud!"

"Why? It's just a book."

All the while, the kids had stopped what they were doing. Stu scurried over and approached the buffoon. "Johnny?"

Johnny frowned. "What now?"

"Where can you find that book?"

"Dark corner and to the left." Johnny pointed. "There's more than one copy actually. You can both grab one. Now leave me alone!"

"Thanks, Johnny."

"Er…Okay..." Jeff said with much uneasiness.

**-Sprite Base-**

Mary and Gray stared wide-eyed at the monitor. "I THOUGHT Carl said that everything would be okay!" Mary said in panic.

"You would think that Johnny would be at LEAST competent enough to just sit behind a desk." Gray said through gritted teeth.

"We'd better get back there!" Mary said as she headed for the door.

Gray quickly shot a glance at his watch. He gave a sigh of relief that at least things were going on schedule. He then followed Mary out.

At the same time, the sprites finally caught Carl and were about to toss him out via catapult. "My research is almost complete! Don't throw me out!" Carl pleaded as the sprites typed in coordinates.

"Bye-bye, budum!"

"Wai-AAAAHHH!" Carl screamed as he was thrown to the outside.

The sprites watched him go.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Phil suddenly said as he pointed at his monitor.

The sprites quickly went over to Phil's computer. "Holy chickens! That's mistress!" One of them suddenly exclaimed.

"With the town photographer!" Another gasped as they stared at the two in each other's arms, dancing in the goddess' dwelling.

"Bring on the popcorn, budum!"

**-Goddess' Dwelling-**

"So you've been visiting here for quite some time. Don't you know that's it's dangerous to fraternize with a goddess?" She asked the photographer.

Kano tilted his head. "Then may I be in danger." He replied calmly as he gracefully led her on. "But it's worth it; anything to bask in your presence." He added as he closed his eyes.

She smiled. "You're quite charming for a human."

"And words fail at how charming YOU can be." He said in return.

The goddess' face suddenly saddened. "But when you're old and dead, I'll still be forever young. Doesn't that bother you at all?"

Kano shook his head. "Not in the least. One short life with you is worth more than eternity without you."

The goddess shook her head violently as she gently pushed him away. "No! I can't let you throw your life away!" She shouted as she looked away in guilt.

Kano took her hands. "I don't look at it like that." He replied as he held chin up. "I see it as starting a new life, one with you in it."

Their eyes locked into each other's as they resumed dancing. "...You know, most humans are usually intimidated by me. They only come when they need my help. If only it were that easy for someone like you."

"I know you're a goddess and all, with the whole world on-"

"Town." The goddess interrupted him.

"Excuse me?"

"The whole town on my shoulders." She repeated with a sigh. "You see, I have a confession to make. I'm not the goddess that created all life. In fact, I'm just one of the lesser goddesses that help one of the major goddesses keep things in order."

"Sounds complicated."

"It's very complicated." She agreed. "So I won't go into detail." She added before bravely looking at him in the eye. "Now tell me. Are you sure you want to have a relationship with a lesser goddess?"

To her surprise, the gentleman took her lips in his. Stunned, the goddess could say nothing after it. "Just as long as you're willing to have a relationship with a lesser human." Kano replied as they continued their dance.

…

It took a while before she found her voice again. "Modest, yet bold. I guess that's what I find charming about you."

Kano smiled warmly. He then pointed to a camera that was cleverly hidden behind a rock. "Oh by the way, we're being watched."

The goddess whipped around to the direction of Kano 's finger. She then noticed; right there, a black camera cleverly hidden behind a rock. Her gentle face flared as she marched toward it and zapped it with a spell. "I am going to seriously hurt those sprites!" She roared as she turned to Kano . "How were you able to notice it?" She said as her features suddenly softened again. "I'm a goddess and I couldn't even sense it."

Kano shrugged. "I guess they weren't counting on a human to ever visit you. I'm assuming it must have some kind of deity block on it."

The goddess crossed her arms and twitched her brow with much annoyance. "That lousy quickly rising technology- I'm going to punish them, NOW. Care to join?"

"I wouldn't mind."

At that, a great light surrounded them and they disappeared.

**-Sprite Base-**

"Uh-oh!" Phil squeaked.

"We'd better tell Chef!" A random sprite shouted as all the rookie sprites started to run for the door and headed for the library.

**-Library-**

Everyone was having loads of fun. The music was on and people were dancing. Others, who were tired, were just talking to others and drinking punch.

A loud knocking, unfortunately, interrupted all this. Chef quickly went to see it is. He opened the secret door and saw Phil and the other sprites. "Official Harvest Sprites business here." He said to the crowd. "We sprites can take care of this, budum." He added as he called the other sprites.

The party resumed as the sprites talked outside the door. "What's wrong, budum?" Bold asked the rookies.

"It's the Goddess!" Phil cried. "She found out about the cameras, budum!"

Chef smacked the rookie upside on the head. "I told you not to set one there, budum! Now we're in serious trouble!"

"Oh yes they are!" A voice boomed, making the sprites' hairs rise.

In a flash of light, an angry goddess appeared. On her side was a collected photographer.

"Oh, and she's dating Kano , budum." Phil added weakly.

The goddess snapped her fingers. "Spy on me, will you!" She roared as all the sprites were suddenly engulfed in a ball.

"We're sorry!"

"We won't do it again, budum!" The sprites pleaded.

Suddenly the door opened and in came Johnny. Seeing the goddess, Johnny quickly went to her and posed. "Hey there, pretty mama. Long time no see."

"Back off!" The goddess yelled. "I'm not in the mood right now!"

Johnny didn't hear her as he posed randomly. "Look, I have something to tell you." He started. "I know you dig me and all, but it seems that I'm already spoken for, and she doesn't like to share, not that I can blame her. So you need to get me out of your mind and start dating others."

The deity whipped around. "And what exactly makes you think that I...did you just say that you'll no longer chase after me?" She asked in bewilderment.

"Um, I think so."

The goddess let out a relieved sigh. "Then you've made me very much relieved." She then turned to Kano . "Finally, no more annoyances!"

Kano just answered with a smile.

The goddess then turned back to the sprites. "As for you guys..."

"Have mercy!"

Kano quietly placed a hand on the goddess' shoulder. "I think you should let them off just this once, it being their first offense and all.

"Well if you really think I should..." She said with much thought. She then stopped the spell. "Don't ever do that again!" She roared at the now freed sprites. "Got it?!"

The sprites stood up and saluted. "Rest assured, it won't happen again, budum!" They said in military unison.

Chef turned to Phil. "Phil?"

"Yes, budum?" The little elf asked.

"You're fired."

Little Phil's head dropped. "I thought so, budum."

"And since you're fired, you can't say "budum" anymore, budum. That's the privilege of working as a harvest sprite." Chef added.

"Okay." Phil said with a sigh. "NOW what will I do? Where will I live?"

"I know!" Johnny piped. "You can live with me and Jack!"

"That's a great idea!" The sprite cheered. "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it."

Speaking of which, Jack and Karen appeared. "Hey," Jack started as he approached them. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"H-Hey, I'll be good and helpful!"

Karen went down to Phil's level. "He was a harvest sprite." She said. "He'll be very helpful around the house. Let's keep him, Jack." She said as she turned to her husband. "It's great timing too, considering that I'm now pregnant."

"This is true..." Jack said with much thought. He then turned to the elf. "Welcome aboard then."

"Alright!"

**-Christmas Eve: 9 AM: Jack's Farm-**

"Morning, Karen." Jack greeted his wife who had just woken up.

Karen yawned as she got out of bed. "Morning, Jack. Done with the farm work?"

"Almost." Jack replied as he sat down on a chair. "Got anything planned for Christmas Eve?"

"Well I was planning to spend it with my parents." Karen said. You want to come? After all, YOUR parents are too far away."

Jack smiled. "Sure. It sounds like fun. I-Eew! What the-?" He suddenly exclaimed when a nasty smell suddenly wafted in.

Karen quickly covered her nose. "It smells like manure!"

They then heard little Phil's voice. "Jack! The cows just gave you some fertilizer!"

We kind of smelled that." Karen said pointedly. "Did you have to come in?"

Phil scratched his stinky head. "Jack couldn't hear me from outside so…'

Jack just sighed as he got up from the chair. "A farmer's work never ends." He muttered. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

**-Library-**

"Did you find that book you wanted?" Mary asked Gray. Gray had been looking for a certain book for a couple of days now.

Gray held up the book. "I sure did." He replied. He then lowered his voice. "Did you ever get THAT book back from Stu and May?" He asked, knowing that Mary knew what he meant.

Mary nodded. "Yes. I told them I wouldn't tell their parents in exchange for it."

"Oh...Did you, um..." Gray started uneasily.

Mary shook her head. "No! Of course not! Well just the cover, but that was it! I quickly gave it all back to Phil!

"I understand."

"Well anyways," Mary said, changing the subject. "I was wondering if you would like to come over to my house for Christmas Eve."

Gray smiled. "Sure, I'd love to."

Mary smiled too. "Great! Be there at six."

**-Clinic-**

"Elli?" The doctor called from downstairs.

His nurse was upstairs, fixing the books. "Yes doctor?" She called back.

The doctor went up the stairs. "I was wondering." He said as he approached her. "Do you have any plans for tonight?"

"Well, I was planning to have a dinner with Grandma and Stu." She replied as she put a blue book on the shelf. "Do you want to come?"

"I would be delighted."

-**Inn: 2 PM-**

Doug clapped his hands, getting Ann's and his future son in- whoops, err, Cliff's attention. "All right, as we all know, there's going to be a bash for some of the people here later on at six. It's just the usual people who come to the Inn for a break, but Kano said that he was going to bring someone with him. I never got the name…" Doug said. "Anyway, we have around four hours to get everything ready." He said as he crossed his arms. "So Ann, we'd better start getting ready."

"Yes, sir!" Ann said before dashing to the kitchen.

Doug was about to go to the kitchen himself when Cliff spoke. "Sir, what about me?" Cliff asked.

Doug's brow twitched. "You? You're a guest. You don't need to help."

"But I want too." Cliff said. "I really want to and I don't have anything else to do."

_Excellent choice, Ann._ _Now if only he would propose to her… _Doug thought before snapping out of it. "Ahem…Well okay, if you really want to help, you get the tables ready."

"All right!" Cliff said before going to the counter for the utensils and tablecloths.

**-Poultry Farm-**

"No he isn't!"

"Yes he is!"

"No he isn't!"

"Yes he is!"

"Mom!" The siblings cried out to Lilia in unison.

Lilia was reading a book. "He IS." She said as she closed the book. "It's only polite. Besides, you wouldn't want me doing the same thing to you, Rick."

"Thanks, mom!" Popuri said before turning to the door. "You can come out now, Johnny!"

The door opened and in came Johnny. "I still don't see why I had to wait here." Johnny said as he closed the door behind him.

"You mean you PLANNED for him to be here?!" Rick demanded.

"Well of course! You think I wouldn't?!"

Before another squabble ensued, Johnny quickly said, "Besides, Jack and Karen are going somewhere and Phil is attending the food thing at the harvest sprites place. And adding to that, Jack's dog keeps giving me creepy looks."

Rick sighed in defeat. "Fine, it's not like I could've done something about it anyways…"

**-Midnight-**

The whole town was quiet. All the villagers had partied in one way or another and were pretty tuckered out. All were now sleeping soundly in their beds, when who other than Santa Claus, should appear.

"Ho! Ho! Ho!" He bellowed as he steered his sleigh towards the roof of the Poultry Farm. "It sure feels good to give presents to the people of this village, especially considering how good most of them are." Santa said as he parked his ride.

"Out of all the worlds you give gifts to, you must REALLY love peaceful ones, budum." Aqua commented from the back.

It's a kind of tradition thing. Each year, a harvest sprite is assigned to help Santa in giving gifts in Mineral Town. This year is the little light blue sprite's turn.

"That I do." Santa replied as Aqua helped him unload his bag of gifts. "Although it wouldn't hurt to have a few more street lights but still, it's better than delivering stuff to Aaron City!" He rambled. "I can't even BEGIN to describe how much trouble people give me there! Most of them are good people, but really annoying and stupid!"

"Sounds like a living headache, budum."

"Oh it is." Santa replied as he took out his list. "Especially this one guy named Johnny Bravo!"

Aqua's eyes widened. "J-Johnny?"

"Yes, a real twit!" Santa answered with much annoyance. "He once thought I was a burglar and punched me off the roof! I had him take over my job for me at the time. He got the job done but the mayor of Aaron city was in some real hot water with the missus."

"Funny you should say that." Aqua said with a nervous laugh.

Santa looked at his list and furrowed his brow. "Hmmm, let's see. The inhabitants here are Popuri, Rick and Lilia. Rod's not home yet but they're all on my nice list. Well time to get back to work." He said as he made his sleigh land on the said house. He was about to go to the chimney when…

"Hu-ha-hu!" A familiar voice cried out as Santa was pushed off the roof.

"Whoa!" St. Nick cried as he fell. Luckily, he landed in a big pile of snow and didn't break anything. When he looked up to see his attacker, he saw Johnny in his pajamas doing a victory pose.

"Ha!" Johnny said with Triumph. "Take that, you burglar!"

"Johnny?" Santa said in disbelief. "What are YOU doing here?! It's not Christmas in Aaron city yet!"

Johnny took out a flashlight out of his pocket and flashed it on the old man. "Santa?" He said before jumping down to help him. "Oh mama, sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

"It's alright." Santa said as he dusted himself. "Fortunately, nothing's broken. I should still be able to do my job."

As Santa was about to touch his nose to magically go back to the roof, Popuri walked outside. She was apparently awakened by the small ruckus. "What's going on?" She asked quite crankily. She then noticed Santa and gushed. "Santa?! Wow!"

"Ho, ho ho…" Santa said as he waved weakly at the girl. He then turned to Johnny. "Thanks for making enough noise for someone to see me!"

"Anytime, Santa."

He looked up to Aqua with much annoyance. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Ehehe…Well I never really counted on him jumping you, budum…" The sprite said innocently from the roof.

Santa put a hand on his face and shook his head. "Ugh… Anyway, I'd better be going now." He said as he turned to Johnny and Popuri. "Here are your and your family's presents." He said as he tossed a couple of gifts to them.

Johnny caught them all with ease. "Thanks Santa!" He said as he posed.

Santa touched his nose and magically teleported to the roof. He then jumped on the sleigh." Hohoho!" He said before getting the reindeer to start. "Merry Christmas and good night!" He said before flying off.

"Cool!" Johnny said as he watched St. Nick. "I want one of those!"

Popuri yawned. "Well maybe next Christmas, then." She said sleepily. "I'm going back to bed."

Johnny yawned too. "Ah yeah, me too." He said as he followed Popuri in.

Santa checked his town map. "Next stop is the Inn." Santa said as he saw the modest building in sight. "Let's do it!" He said as the reindeer expertly landed on the roof.

Aqua pulled out the list. "All right, budum." He started as he looked at the list. "The people who live or rather who sleep here are Ann, Gray, Kano , Won and Doug. All are in the nice list, budum. Well except for Won anyways." Aqua added. "That guy still hasn't quit conning people, budum."

Santa nodded as he got out off the sleigh. "Yeah, he's still getting coal this year." He said as he grabbed his bag and headed for the chimney.

St. Nick quickly slid down the chimney with Aqua behind him. They landed with a soft thud inside the house. "The tree and the cookies should be in the main food hall, budum." Aqua whispered as Santa made his way out of the room. Inside the hall, sure enough, there was a plate of cookies and milk sitting on a table. There was a big Christmas tree near it.

"Hohoho!" Santa said softly as he placed the presents under the tree. He then turned to the cookies and grabbed one. "I do hope it's one of either Doug's or Ann's special recipes." He said as he took a bite.

"This is good." He said as he took another bite. "Hey Aqua," He said as he turned to the sprite. "Take-…Aqua?" Santa stopped when he notice that the sprite wasn't on his side anymore. He looked around and saw little Aqua on the second floor, peeking in to one of the rooms.

Not wanting to shout, Santa quietly went over to Aqua's side. He tapped the sprite's shoulder. "Peeking into people's bedrooms is not a nice thing to do!" He said in an annoyed whisper.

"I know budum." Aqua said in a low voice, not taking his eyes off the room. "But this is too good to miss! Look!" He whispered as he motioned Santa to look inside.

Santa was reluctant. "No way, that would be-"

" Kano and the mistress are in here!" Aqua said in a rushed whisper.

"Mistress? The goddess?" Santa asked in disbelief.

Aqua nodded rapidly. "They're dating! Kano asked her out to the Christmas Eve bash here!"

Santa blinked. Never in a million years has Santa thought that the mighty and powerful goddess of Mineral Town be interested in a mere mortal.

"All right, a peek!" Santa said as he lightly shoved the elf out of the way. Then there, lo and behold, he saw Kano sleeping on the goddess's lap. The mighty mistress herself was leaning on the wall peacefully asleep.

Santa gaped at them. "Jingle bells! Never in a million years!" He exclaimed.

"Not so loud!" Aqua said in panic.

Santa suddenly clamped his mouth. Both Santa and Aqua froze when the goddess' brow twitched. But both the photographer and deity were quite heavy sleepers and didn't stir anymore after that.

Seeing that they won't wake up, Santa and Aqua both relaxed. Aqua then silently signaled Santa to get back to work. Santa said nothing as he went down to get his bag. Unbeknownst to him, Aqua took a quick picture of the sleeping couple before he quickly jumped on Santa's shoulder when Santa touched his nose and magically teleported back to the roof.

Safely out, Santa wiped his brow. "Whoa, now that's something you don't see everyday." He said as he turned to the sprite. "How did you know they were there?"

"We had cameras all over the place." Aqua said mischievously. "We saw Kano asking the mistress out and partying with her in the Inn. But of course, no one really knew since the mistress took a mortal's form."

"What?!" Santa exclaimed. "You're spying on them? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yeah, it is." Aqua nodded. "We actually had a camera that was inside the mistress' lair but she found that one out and nearly got us for it."

"You guys are nuts."

"Yeah, budum." Aqua said as he grinned. "But it's all worth it. And…Hey why not put her gift under the Inn's tree? It'll save us a trip to the Springs." Aqua suggested.

Santa took out the gift that was for the goddess from his bag and looked at it. "Well I would put this under the Inn's tree, but if I do that, she'll suspect that we saw her and well…I sure don't want to be zapped by lightning."

"Point taken, budum."

Santa put the gift back in and jumped on the sleigh. "There's still a lot of time anyway." He said as he made his reindeers start. He then sighed as they took to the sky. "And everybody thinks I only work one day a year!"

**RWT: **I don't own anything but if I ever get to that artist's level I want to draw that KanoxGoddess Inn scene...


	16. Chapter 16

**RWT: **Hmmm, looks like my beta's gone busy. Ah oh well, I don't own anything,

The snow in Mineral Town is melting and turning to water. Migratory birds were coming back to the sleepy town. Little leaves and plants were starting to appear. Winter is nearly at its end.

"Feeding time!" Phil chirped happily as he walked towards the chicken coop.

Karen watched the happy sprite go before turning to Jack. Jack was brushing Kite and was humming to himself.

The pregnant woman then sighed. She was bored. Ever since she had entered that stage of the pregnancy period, she can't go out as much, she can't help around the house; she can't even beat Johnny if he turned annoying. The only real thing she can do is to watch TV. But with just four channels and no satellite dish, it kind of gets old.

But of course, her state doesn't mean she can't entertain friends and guests when they visit…yet.

"Karen!" A familiar voice called out.

The brunette turned and saw Popuri running towards her with a basket of goodies. "Good afternoon!"

Karen looked at her. She noted that Popuri seems to be itching to tell her something. Karen smiled. "Good afternoon, Popuri. What brings you here today?" She asked the girl.

"I just heard the greatest news!" Popuri enthused.

"What is it?"

"Well while I was making an egg delivery at the Inn, I overheard Ann and Cliff talking." She started, barely able to contain her excitement. "And while I was listening, I heard Cliff propose to Ann!"

Karen's eyes went wide in surprise. "Really? He did?!" _About time!_

Popuri nodded her head briskly. "Uh-huh. Isn't it great?"

"It's wonderful! So when are they getting married?"

Popuri's excitement faded there. "Well I'm not sure. They caught me eavesdropping before I could hear anything else."

"Then we'll JUST have to find out!" Karen said as she stood up. "Besides, I'm bored!"

"Good thinking! But… Are you sure you can in your condition?"

Karen pumped a fist. "It's just a silly walk to the Inn. I'm pretty sure I can handle that."

Popuri was still worried but she decided to just let it be. "Well okay, let me just put this basket someplace."

"Nah, take it with us. I'll probably want some food later."

Upon the word "food", Johnny, who was sleeping on the grass, ran and swiped the basket from Popuri's hands.

"Did you say food?! I'm starving!"

Karen's smile turned to a frown. "No, you idiot! I said I'd probably get hungry later!"

Popuri quickly stepped in. "It's alright, Karen. This food was for everyone anyways-" she stopped when she heard munching sounds.

The girls turned back to Johnny then the blonde stopped eating the food like a pig. "Huh? Did you say something?"

Karen glared at him as Popuri's face fell. "Uh… I said that the food was for sharing."

Johnny posed as he handed the basket and whatever's left back. "Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. Now you know."

Karen was surprised at this. "How did you do that? I usually have to beat him senseless before he finally shares ANYTHING."

"I don't do anything special. I just be nice to him, that's all." Popuri replied.

"That, and she doesn't beat on him." Phil piped.

Karen glared at the elf. "Butt out, Phil!"

"Okay, okay!" Phil said as he scuttled off.

After scaring the elf, Karen called out to Jack. "Popuri and I are going to take care of a little business! I'll see you tonight on Mother's Hill!" She said with a seemingly evil grin.

Jack smiled uneasily as he waved after them. "Sure thing, Karen! Just don't overdo it!"

**-Inn-**

The two ladies entered the Inn. They looked around but the two to-be-married doesn't seem to be around. They then noticed Carl.

"Oh hello." Carl greeted when he noticed them. "How are you two doing today?"

"Nothing much." Popuri replied. "We just want to know when Ann and Cliff are getting married." She added innocently.

"You DO know that it's bad to pry in other peoples business, right?"

"And your point is?" Karen asked.

Carl shrugged. "Nothing, really. I was just a tad curious." He replied. "It seems that nobody believes in that old saying anymore. This reminds me of a funny scientific equation that involved the Pythagorean theorem."

Karen, being not in the mood for one of Carl's fun science explanations, grabbed him by the collar. "Don't you EVEN begin telling it!"

Carl grinned sheepishly "...Or not."

"Please excuse her." Popuri said. "She's been bored ever since her pregnancy."

Carl nodded. "But of course." He said. "Such is the nature of the reproductive system. The body adjusting to the new life form that's developing deep inside the cosmic structure that is known as the uterus."

Karen's brow twitched as she tightened her grip. "You make it sound like I'm giving birth to an unknown creature!" She roared. "But enough about that! Do you or don't you know when Cliff and Ann are getting married?!"

"Affirmative."

"What?"

"Yes."

"Then when?!"

"They will be wed in the last week of this month." Carl answered before lowering his voice. "That way, Johnny will already be gone."

"Perfect." Karen said as he let him go. "Two great things happening at once."

"What were you whispering about?" Popuri asked. The girl didn't hear the last part at all.

"I'll tell you about when the time comes." Carl replied. "Until then, Cliff and Ann's wedding won't be for quite some time."

"Okaaaaay…" Popuri said with suspicion. She then looked at her watch. "I'll have to let that go for now, I guess. I have to go." She said before leaving.

Carl and Karen watched her leave. Once the doors shut behind her, Carl turned back to Karen. "Well now that she's gone, I suppose it's as good of a time as any to tell you that I've completed my research. I just have one more thing to collect before I'm ready to go."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"A DNA sample from the harvest goddess."

Karen suddenly picked up a chair. "Lower your head."

"Hahaha…W-What for?" Carl asked nervously.

"So I can give you an example on how stupid that idea is!" Karen roared. "Like the goddess is going to just GIVE you a sample of her blood!"

"I-It'll mean Johnny going back home!"

Karen thought for a second then put the chair down. "Well…In that case, she MIGHT let you. IF she hasn't already struck you down."

"Don't worry. It'll be as easy as calculus."

_In a sense, yes... About the same as Johnny becoming a genius._

"Whatever."

"You'll see." Carl said cheerfully. "Just wait until tonight."

Unfortunately, Popuri heard everything. After the girl left, she didn't go home right away but went over to the window nearest to the two. She knew that Carl whispered something of concern to Karen earlier.

_He's going to take Johnny home?! That isn't fair!_ She thought furiously. "I'll just have to sabotage his plans." She whispered to herself before leaving.

**-Later: Pond-**

BANG!

KRACK!

BANG!

**BANG!**

With that final blow, the ice finally gave an opening big enough. She then took an ear of corn from her bag and dropped it in.

A second later, the goddess appeared in a flash of light. She was wearing winter clothes.

The deity looked at Popuri with surprise. "How did you do that? It's win-Oh." She stopped her question when she saw the rock Popuri used. "Why then did you waste your time doing so?"

"Because I have something to tell you." Popuri replied in worry. "Carl is going to come here tonight to take a sample of your blood! He wants it for some kind of creepy research!"

The goddess grinned. "I'm so glad that you told me. I bet it had nothing to do with Carl taking Johnny back to his world."

Popuri was shocked. "How did you know?"

"I'm a goddess. Need I say more?"

Popuri was trying hard not to cry. "I know that you can't stand Johnny, but can't you look past that just this once?"

The goddess shook her head. "Sorry, my dear, but the answer is no. " She replied. 'However, I WILL buy you some extra time by giving Carl a bit of a resistance. Who knows? Maybe I'll even change my mind…"

_Ha! Like that'll ever happen!_

"So don't fret about it." She added quickly.

Popuri's face brightened again. "Really?" She chirped. "Thank you so much!" She said before leaving.

The goddess watched her leave. "Strange girl, REALLY strange girl." She said before going back to her dwelling.

**-New Year's Eve: Midnight: Mother's Hill-**

Save for a few people, the denizens of Mineral Town were chatting on the peak of Mother's hill and looking at the starry sky.

"You know, being a former harvest sprite," Phil stated. "I'm usually too busy to see a sunrise without work being involved." He said before turning to Popuri. The girl was holding Johnny's. The sprite furrowed his brow. "I seem to notice that you haven't let go of Johnny's arm since you got here."

"Mind your own business." Johnny told him. "This is what she wants to do, although I'm not sure why so much, not that I'm complaining."

Phil snickered at that.

"Let's just enjoy our time together while it lasts." Popuri said a bit sadly.

Johnny was confused. "Why? Where are you going?"

"You mean you don't know? Carl is going to take you back to your world soon."

"No way! I'm staying right here!"

Ann, who was talking to her dad, overheard that and turned to the buffoon. "Oh no you're not! I hope Carl gives you just the right distraction!"

Johnny didn't seem to understand what she just said properly. "Like I told the harvest goddess, I know you dig me." He said as he flexed an arm. "But you need to move on and find somebody else to have feelings for."

Ann became furious and quickly picked up a big rock.

Cliff and Doug quickly tried to restrain her. "Don't! It's not worth it!"

"I know! But I don't care!"

After much struggling, Ann finally calmed down and no more death threats were heard after that .

**-Pond-**

While the citizens of Mineral town were at the peak, Carl was at the pond.

"Huh? What's with the hole?" He asked when he saw the big hole Popuri made earlier. He then shrugged and dropped a strawberry in.

In a flash of light, the goddess appeared. She looked quite ticked and she was only on her nightclothes. "You had BETTER have a good reason for disturbing me like this!"

"You were sleeping?"

The goddess shook her fist at him. "DOI! "What do you want anyways?!"

_Ehehe, cranky at twelve am I guess…_

"Just a DNA sample from you, if that isn't asking too much." He replied meekly.

"I would normally say no, but since you're going to take Johnny away, I'll agree." The goddess replied as he put her threatening hand down. "However, on ONE condition only."

"Sure, just name it."

"When spring comes, I want Johnny out of this world on the goddess festival."

"Sure, okay."

"Good." She said with a yawn. "You'll find the sample in a test tube in your science kit. The minute you try to show anyone else, it'll fizzle and then evaporate. Now go away!" She said crankily. "I have to get ready for the sunrise soon."

"Alright, and don't forget to make sure Kano gets there too." Carl said with a grin.

The goddess suddenly got a wake up call and blushed. "How did you know he was here?!"

"Let's just say that a little bird told me."

The winds suddenly blew hard. "W-Well you'd better not tell anyone about it or else I'm going to give you a fate worse than death!"

Carl smiled nervously. "Ehehe, y-yes ma'am." He said before scurrying off.

**-Later-**

The pond was quiet. There was only about twenty minutes before dawn when a certain photographer walked over to the thawing pond. "My lady?" He called out.

A warm flash of light answered his call. "Ready," The goddess replied as she appeared in her mortal form.

Kano smiled at the goddess as he held her hand. "Let's go then."

The goddess was about to go when she saw a sleeping bird. "One minute," She told Kano.

"What's wrong?"

**ZAP!**

"Okay, let's go." The goddess said as she started to walk.

Kano just stared at the poor bird before following her.

The pair hiked the hill quickly. Luckily, they moved quickly and were able to see the sunrise with the others right on time.

**-New Year's: Evening: Town Square-**

After seeing the sun rise, the people of Mineral Town had a real hard time waking up early. Almost everyone didn't leave their beds until the clocks strike noon. When they got up, they quickly made the preparations for the New Year's Festival in the Square and in the Inn.

That's pretty much the case every year. It's always a good thing though that every New Year's Festival always turn out well. Even they lacked sleep, the Square and the Inn would always be decorated in time for the festival. Much merrymaking was made. Everyone danced, and or drank to their content.

Popuri knowing that Johnny will most likely go soon, never let the dumb blonde away from her sight, even after the festival.

**-Town Square: Very, very late -**

"Do you mind?" Karen asked Popuri, who was following them home. "We'd like to go home by ourselves if that's okay with you."

Popuri shook her head. "No! I want to stay with Johnny for as long as he's here!"

"You mean you heard about it?"

"That's right!" Popuri answered with much determination.

Karen slapped her head. "Oh great…"

Jack quickly responded for her. "Well I guess we can. Seeing that you're not going to let him go anyways." He said before turning to Phil. "Just keep a good eye on them. I don't want to be responsible for anything."

The sprite saluted. "Sure thing."

"Cool!" Johnny cheered. "But I'm not going anywhere. Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Everyone looked at the idiot before walking home.

**RWT: **Please review!


	17. Chapter 17

**RWT: **I own nothing!

"You know, you COULD help me." Jack said to Johnny with much annoyance.

"I know." The blonde replied as he watched him chop another piece of wood.

Jack grabbed another log. "Well?" He said as he raised his ax.

Johnny didn't reply as he just sat under the tree, sipping some lemonade.

**WHAP!**

"Ow!" Johnny said as he clutched his head. He then looked around to see who hit him. It was Karen and a thickly rolled newspaper.

"Get to work! "Karen ordered angrily.

"Ohh! Why didn't you say so?" Johnny said as he got up.

"Just do it." Karen said as she rolled her eyes.

"Thanks." Jack said as he brought his axe down again.

The dumb blonde quickly did so.

As Karen watched Johnny work with much annoyance, Phil enters from the house and goes to Karen, carrying a tray of lemonade.

"Here you go, Karen." The sprite said as he raised the tray nearer to her level.

Karen took one. "Thank you, Phil." She said after she took a sip. "So is Popuri still asleep?"

"Like a rock."

"Good. Since she's still asleep, that'll give Johnny a chance do actually FINISH some work."

"Speaking of which, I have some good news." Phil said. "The Harvest Goddess told me that she lifted the curses that were on Johnny. She figured that since he's leaving, he no longer needs them."

"Johnny will love to hear this." Karen said. "Hey Johnny! The goddess' curses have been removed! You can now go near animals again!"

Johnny posed happily. "Cool! In that case, I'll go feed the chickens." He said as he dashed to the coop.

"Why did he want to feed the chickens?"

"Popuri loves chickens."

"Oh."

Inside the henhouse, Johnny quickly and happily fed the chickens.

"Wait til' Popuri hears about this." He said as he tossed some more corn to the birds. "She'll REALLY dig me."

After feeding them, he started to collect the eggs. But as he was about to take the first egg, he noticed Jack's dog come in.

"Rr?"

"Guess what," He started as he posed at the dog. "You big stupid dog? I can go near animals and they won't do ANYTHING to me!" He told the dog triumphantly. "How do you like them apples?"

**-Outside-**

"Aaah!" Johnny screamed as he ran outside with the dog on his heels. "Get him away from me!"

Karen and Phil watched the too familiar scene. "I thought you said the curse was lifted?" She said as she turned ot the sprite.

The sprite shrugged. "I guess the dog never liked him to begin with."

**-Later: Afternoon-**

All the chores were now done. The fields have been watered, the wood chopped and Johnny managed to lose the dog. Karen, Popuri, Phil and Johnny were inside the house watching TV. Jack then enters from outside.**  
**  
He approached his wife. "Look what Ann gave me." Jack said as he hands Karen an envelope. "It's an invitation to the bar tonight to celebrate Cliff's birthday."

"I wonder why she didn't throw a surprise party." Karen said after reading the letter.

"Well you know Cliff. He's not the type to handle surprises well." Jack said as he shrugged.

"Did you say there was going to be a party tonight?" Popuri asked.

Jack nodded. "Yep. It's Cliff's birthday to be precise."

"That sounds great!" Popuri squealed. "Just two days ago we had a birthday party for Bold. It's wonderful how there are so many birthdays!"

"I agree." Karen said. "Well I better go find something decent to wear. You should probably do the same."

"I will." Popuri said before turning to Johnny. "Can you come with me? I'm sure mom would LOVE to talk with you while you wait."

"Go where?"

"To the poultry farm. I need to find something to wear to Cliff's birthday party."

"There's a party tonight?" Johnny asked excitedly. "When? Where?"

"If you were LISTENING when we were speaking, maybe you would know it!" Karen said with much aggravation.

"Know what?"

Karen slapped her head. "Agh! I'm going to get changed." She said as she left in a huff.

Jack followed his wife while Popuri explained everything to the blonde dweeb.

"Ohh!" Johnny said when heard it all. "Why didn't she just say so?" He said with a pose. "Well let's get ready for that reunion!"

"You mean party."

"Right, what'd I say?"

**- Inn : Party Time-**

The party was going off without a hitch. Everyone was either dancing, chatting or just having a great time.

"A toast!" Won suddenly said as he held up his glass. "To an eternally happy couple! May their marriage go off without a hitch!"

"Hear-hear!"

"W-We aren't married yet!" Ann shouted in embarrassment.

"You will soon, won't you?"

"That's not the point!" Ann roared, wanting to sock the sleazy merchant.

Cliff quickly stopped Ann. "Now, now…" He said as he quickly led Ann away.

Won, wanting no trouble and or bruises from Ann, quickly walked to the table where Johnny and Popuri are sitting. "Good evening."

"Hey Won." Johnny greeted. "Got anything interesting?"

"I got it just for you." Won said with much mischief. He took out a blue feather. "It's a one of a kind blue feather. You can give it to someone you REALLY love and then you guys can get married. It is also said to bring vast wealth and fortune to the one who buys it."

"Whoa!" Johnny exclaimed as he whipped out his money. "I'll take it!"

"That'll be 3,000 gold."

Popuri got up from her seat. "Wait! Let me see that feather."

Won turned all nervous. "Um, actually, until it's purchased, it's for display only."

Unfortunately for Won, Ann had caught to him. "Are you trying to scam people again?" She asked him. "Because if you are, I'll give you the same beating I gave you last time!"

Won started to sweat. "I would never dream of it." He said as he turned to Johnny. "Did I say 3,000? I meant 300." He said before suddenly feeling Ann's death glare behind him. "Er, plus, I'll throw in this dog ball for free."

"I'll take it!' Johnny said as he handed him the money.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Won said with a nervous grin. He then went back to his seat. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Well I'm going back with Cliff. Have a good time." Ann said as she left the table.

"Johnny?" Popuri said.

"Yeah?"

Popuri moved closer to him. "I never got the chance to before, but there's something I've been wanting to do.' She said as she leaned closer to him.

"You're breath smells nice."

"I knew you'd notice." Popuri replied softly.

Carl and Rick suddenly went to their table. "Hi, Popuri. Hi, Johnny.' Carl greeted with a grin.

Popuri frowned. "Hi, Carl!"

"Go away, Carl!"

"How are you two doing?" Rick asked.

"Just fine, thank you very much!" Popuri replied.

"I just made contact with Suzie the other day." Carl said, not noticing the girl's annoyance. "She said that only a month has passed by in our world, yet a whole year has passed by over here. Strange, isn't it?"

"Yeah? So?" Johnny asked without much interest.

"Oh nothing, I just like making observations." Carl replied as he took out his suitcase. "And speaking of which, allow me to show you all of the amazing research I've collected. Won't that be fun?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Johnny replied. "But why don't you show us somewhere we CAN'T see it?!"

Carl laughed. "Good one, Johnny. I'll have to remember that. Anyways, it'll be nice to be back in my own world. The science is very limited here, plus I miss my own room."

"Then why don't YOU just go back?! Popuri cried.

"As great as that sounds, I must take Johnny with me." Carl explained. "For you see, for him to be present in this world, especially in a life's term, would disturb the natural balance that is this world. Trust me. Everything will go back to normal once we leave."

"Besides, even KAI is a better match for you!" Rick added. "And coming from me, that's saying a lot."

"Well maybe I WOULD'VE been with Kai that day, but YOU had to chase him away!" Popuri snapped. At this time, half of the people of the room were watching them.

"I don't want you to be with Kai, either!"

"I didn't say anything during that time you had a crush on Karen! She was COMPLETELY not meant for you!"

Said girl heard that. "Hey!"

"No offense, Karen." Popuri said as she turned to her friend. "It's just that Jacks more your type."

"I'll drink to that." Jack said with a sheepish yet happy smile.

Johnny stood up. "I know the easiest way to solve this." He said before grabbling Carl and hurling him to the other side of the room.

"AAAHH!" Carl screamed before landing on the floor.

"Ooof!"

"What was that for?" Rick asked with wide eyes.

"Nothing. He just annoys me." Johnny replied before shooting a finger at Rick. "But it CAN be used as an example if YOU don't leave her alone!"

Rick quickly got up and backed away. "We'll talk about this later!" He said before rushing to the barstools. 

"Thank you, Johnny. You have no idea how relieved you made me feel."

"Anytime." Johnny said as Ann called everyone to gather around Cliff's cake. It was candle-blowing time.

ANN: Okay, everyone! It's time for Cliff to blow out the candles! Get ready to sing, everyone!

**-Goddess Festival Day: Morning-**

Jack was doing his chores in a hurry and panicky pace. "C'mon, Phil!" Jack said as he hastily watered his plants. "The festival starts in an hour!"

The little elf was spraying water on some strawberries. "I know!" The sprite said. "You said that ten times already!"

Inside the house, Karen watched the boys work as she helped Popuri get dressed. She was irked a bit as she helped the girl since she being pregnant, she cannot dance. But then she was not irked enough not to notice Popuri's sad face. It is Johnny's last day.

"Look on the bright side." She said, trying to cheer her up. "At least NOW you know how much control you have over your brother."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Popuri sadly agreed. "Still, I owe all of my confidence to Johnny. I'm really going to miss him." She said with a sigh.

As Popuri put on her flower crown, Karen thought with a frown, _Speaking__ of which, why isn't that idiot helping Jack? _

She took another look outside and saw Johnny walk out of the chicken house. _Oh…_

The girls then heard the door opening and sounds of panting. "Finished?" Karen asked, without looking at who entered.

"Yeah," Jack replied with a pant. "Done…"

Little Phil flopped to the floor. "Everything's watered…" He then looked at Popuri. "Looking good, Popuri."

"Thanks." Popuri said with a smile. "Where's Johnny?"

"Here I am!" Johnny said as he suddenly appeared behind Jack. "You look as pretty as me, Popuri." He said as he looked at Popuri. "Only flowery."

Jack took Karen's hand. "Well are you ready to go?"

"I sure am."

"Me too!" Phil said as he jumped on to Jack's shoulder.

"You guys go ahead without me.' Popuri said to them. "I need to speak with Johnny first."

"Alright, just don't be late." Jack said before they left.

Popuri watched them go pass the farm's entrance before approaching Johnny. "Johnny?"

Johnny was staring dumbly to space. "Yeah?" He said, snapping back to reality.

"I'm really going to miss you."

"What makes you think I'm going to listen to Carl? I don't want to go!"

"But what if he uses strong persuasion?"

Johnny posed. "Let me tell you something." He started. "There ain't ANY force strong enough to make me leave ANYWHERE!"

**ZAP!**

Parts of the roof landed near a singed Johnny's as he breathed out a puff of smoke. "Like I said before," He said as he shook off the dust. "No HUMAN force is strong enough to make me leave ANYWHERE!"

"Johnny!" A familiar voice bellowed from above. "You'll come home with Carl this instant!"

"Mama?" Johnny asked with a blink. "Is that you?"

"That's right, Johnny." The voice answered. "I've been worried sick about you! Why didn't you call or anything?!"

"You know I don't know our home phone number, mama."

"Your mother?" Popuri asked.

"That's right, dearie." Mama Bravo replied. "I'm using Carl's techno thingy to communicate with you and Johnny. By the way, who are you?"

"I'm Popuri."

"She's my new girlfriend." Johnny said happily. "Aint she pretty, mama?"

"Aww, my sweet baby boy has finally gotten a sweetheart! I'm so happy!

"Does that mean I can stay?"

"Of course not, I need you over HERE."

"Aw man!"

"But you can visit her anytime you like, and vice versa." Mama Bravo added. "Yes, I know what Carl said about balance and all, but just hear how happy he is...Sorry about that. I was just talking to Suzie."

"The annoying neighbor girl?"

"Can you also see us?!" Popuri asked.

"No. Just hear you." Mama Bravo replied. "We need to use someone as a telepathic link in order to do that."

"Oh, well if Johnny goes, can he REALLY visit me? And can I REALLY visit him?"

"I don't see why not. After all, this may be Carl's invention, but nothing beats the power of persuasion." Mama Bravo said. "That and a good half nelson."

Popuri jumped and hugged Johnny. "That's great news!"

"Well I gotta go prepare dinner. See you then!" Mama Bravo said as she ended the link.

Things were quiet after Mama Bravo went off. It took a minute before Popuri spoke. "Well before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"Can I see your eyes? Please?"

Johnny raised his brow at this strange request. "Well alright." He said a bit reluctantly as he took his sunglasses off and revealed his eyes. "What do you think?"

Popuri looked at the deep blue eyes. "They're nice looking eyes. But how did they get that tint of silver to them?" She said as she noticed the small silver tint on them.

"I'm not sure." Johnny said with a shrug. "Mama said something about jeans from her family."

"Genes?"

"Yeah, but not like the one's I'm wearing." He said as he put his glasses back on.

Popuri was confused by that comment but she quickly shook it off. "C-Can I ask you something else?" She said shyly.

"Sure."

Popuri started to blush. "C-Can you close your eyes?"

"Sure. But why?" He asked but shut his eyes anyway.

"I-I'm a little shy about doing this, that's why." She replied as she leaned towards him with closed eyes.

"Doing-" He didn't finish when Popuri suddenly gave him a quick kiss. "Wow!" He exclaimed as he opened his eyes. "That was great!"

"I-I wanted to do that." She said, still blushing. "But I was a little shy, and I won't be surprised if you don't-" She was then dipped by Johnny.

"So you won't get mad if I do this?" He said before kissing her.

They were in that position for a while, until they were interrupted by Carl and the Goddess who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Don't you have someplace to go?" The goddess said, ending the moment.

"I know **I** do." Carl replied.

"Please, I beg of you. Please allow me to visit Johnny whenever I like. Please give me the ability to travel to his world and back at any time I wish." Popuri begged the goddess.

"Well that's entirely up to Carl, since HE was the one who invented that thing in the first place…" She replied.

Carl shook his head. "No can do. For you see-Gak!" Carl gasped when Popuri grabbed him in a choke hold.

"I'm sick and tired of all your techno babble! Now give me one of those invention things so I can see Johnny whenever I want! Otherwise, you'll be wearing a neck brace for the rest of your life!" She threatened.

Johnny cheered. "Whoa, go Popuri!"

"Wow, I never knew she had it in her." The goddess said, pretty much surprised.

"Er…Okay! I give up!" He said in defeat. "Just please don't damage my bone structure!" He pleaded as he handed her a bracelet. It was a weird looking bracelet. It was stubbed with red and blue buttons that look like precious stones. "With the help of the goddess, I was able to compress it to the size of a bracelet. It can only go from my world to yours, but that's all you had in mind, wasn't it." Carl explained. "All you have to do is press that blue button five times in a row. It has a safety lock on it, so you don't accidentally push it by leaning on it or something similar to that."

Popuri dropped Carl and put the bracelet on. "Thanks." She said before turning to Johnny. "Farewell for now."

"Yeah!"

The goddess clapped her hands then after a flash, the boys were gone. "There! Goodbye and good riddance!" She said before turning to Popuri. "Don't you have a festival to attend?"

Popuri's eyes widened. "You're right! I almost forgot!" She said as she rushed off. "Thanks for everything!"

"Well that's it for me." The goddess said when Popuri was out of earshot. "Now there's a certain business I must attend to…" She said before vanishing.

-**Aaron**** City****: Carl's House-**

Bunny Bravo practically tackled her son. "Johnny! It's so great to see you again!" She said as she hugged her son tightly.

"Not so tight, mama!"

"Let's go home." Bunny said as he let go of her son. "I made your favorite food."

"That stuff we eat at Pops diner?" Johnny asked as he stood up.

"Heavens, no! I made weenie loaf."

Johnny smiled. "Thanks, mama!"

"Can I come?" Carl asked.

"Well…just this once." Johnny said as he posed. "But I'm kicking you out immediately after dinner!"

"Can I come?" Susie chimed.

"No!"

"Of course you can."

Suzie smiled. "Thank you, Mama Bravo."

"Aw man!"

**-Johnny's house-**

"Food!" Johnny screamed as he ran to the table and grabbed a crab's pincer. "Mmm…weenie loaf." He said as he took a bite of the "weenie".

**KRK!**

Johnny looked at the "weenie". "Uh mama, I think this weenie is overcooked."

"Silly Johnny." Carl said from behind. "That's crab, not a weenie loaf."

"Crab?" Johnny asked before finally noticing that a seafood dinner was set before him.

"What happened to my weenie loaf?" Mama Bravo asked. "Now who could've done this?"

"That would be me." A small voice replied. Before anyone could react, a small figure fell from above and landed on the table.

Johnny was the first to recognize the figure. "Phil? How did YOU get here?"

"I heard about this world from Carl." He replied. "It sounds more fun. So, I asked the Goddess to bring me here too. So far, I like every minute of it. Plus, there's less work to be done, what with how your mother keeps the house nice and clean."

"I told you so." Carl said.

Phil crossed his arms. "Don't rub it in."

"He looks so cute!" Little Suzie squealed.

"Thanks."

"Is this a friend of yours?" Mama Bravo asked.

"Yeah, he's short but cool."

"Pleased to meet you, Phil." Mama Bravo said as she held out a hand.

Phil took it and gave it a shake. "Same here." He said with a smile.

**-Evening: Mineral Town : Pond-**

"All in a day's work." The goddess said as she lay on the grass beside Kano .

"Alls well that ends well, I guess." The photographer said as he stared at the starry sky.

"I'm just glad that Johnny is no longer here." The goddess said with a smile. "And now that he can only VISIT here and make Popuri happy, I can just remain out of sight for as long as he's here. I know he won't be hitting on me anymore, but he's STILL annoying."

Kano chuckled. "True, true."

The goddess suddenly pointed to the sky. "Look! A shooting star! Make a wish!" She said before they both closed their eyes.

When they opened their eyes again. The goddess gave the photographer a happy yet strange look. "Excuse me? And when were you holding that?"

Kano smiled. Even if he knew she could read his mind, he still thought out his wish. "Before the last week of Fall?" He proposed.

The goddess smiled at her beloved. "Heh, I accept…"

**THE END**

**RWT: **Yeah, this the last chapter. Well see you guys in another reviews page, if you can find me anyway wink .


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